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SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 

BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY: W. H. HOLMES, CHIEF 

BULLETIN 28 



MEXICAN AND CENTRAL AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES, 
CALENDAR SYSTEMS, AND HISTORY 



TWENTY-FOUR PAPERS BY 

EDUAI^D SELER, 
E. FOR STEM AIsTTsT 
PATJE SCHEELHAS 
CARE SARRER 
axicl E. R. RIESELEORFF 



TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF 

CHARLES R. BOVv^DITCH 




WASHINGTON 

OVERNMENT PRINTING OFFI 

1904 ■■ 



:% f 



C 



470013 



3 W' 



CONTENTS 



Page 
The Mexican chronology, with special reference to the Zapotec calendar, by / 

Eduard Seler 11 

Ancient Mexican feather ornaments, by Eduard Seler 57 

Antiquities of Guatemala, by Eduard Seler - . 75 

Alexander A'on Humboldt's picture manuscripts in the Royal Library at Berlin, 

by Eduard Seler 123 

The bat god of the Maya race, by Eduard Seler 231 

The wall paintings of Mitla, by Eduard Seler 243 

The significance of the Maya calendar for historic chronology, by Eduard Seler. 325 

The temple pyramid of Tepoztlan, by Eduard Seler 339 

The Venus period in the Borgian codex group, by Eduard Seler 353 - 

Aids to the deciphering of the Maya manuscripts, by E. Forstemann 393 

Maya chronology, by E. Forstemann _ 473 

Time periods of the Mayas, by E. Forstemann 491 

Maya hieroglyphs, by E. Forstemann • 499 

The Central American calendar, by E. Forstemann 515 

The Pleiades, by E. Forstemann 521 

The Central American tonalamatl, by E. Forstemann 525 

Recent Maya investigations, by E. Forstemann 535 

The inscription on the Cross of Palenque, by E. Forstemann 545 

- The day gods of the Mayas, by E. Forstemann 557 

From the Temple of Inscriptions at Palenque, by E. Forstemann 573 

Three inscriptions of Palenque, by E. Forstemann 581 

Comparative studies in the field of Maya antiquities, by Paul Schellhas 591 

The independent states of Yucatan, by Carl Sapper 623 

Two vases from Chama, by E. P. Dieseldorff, Eduard Seler, and E. Fdrstemann . 635 

3 



Si. c 



ILLUSTRATIONS 



Page 

Plate I. Map of Yucatan 17 

II. Mexican painting — Humboldt fragment I, part 1 129 

III. Mexican painting — Humboldt fragment I, part 2 135 

IV. Mexican painting — Humboldt fragment I, part 3.1 139 

V. Mexican painting — Humboldt fragment I, part 4 148 

VI. Mexican painting — Humboldt fragment I, part 5 .■ 1 52 

VII. Mexican painting — Humboldt fragment II 154 

VIII. Mexican painting — Humboldt fragment III 176 

IX. Mexican painting — Humboldt fragment IV 185 

X. Mexican painting — Humboldt fragment V 188 

XI. Mexican painting — Humboldt fragment VI 190 

XII. Mexican painting — Humboldt fragment VII .V 196 

XIII. Mexican painting — Humboldt fragment VIII 200 

XIV. Mexican painting — Humboldt fragment IX. 208 

XV. Mexican painting — Humboldt fragment X 210 

XVI. Mexican painting — Humboldt fragment XI 212 

XVII. Mexican painting — HumbokU fragment XII 214 

XVIII. Mexican painting — Humboldt fragment XIII 216 

XIX. Mexican painting— Humboldt fragment XIV 218 

XX. Mexican painting — Humboldt fragment XV 221 

XXI. Mexican painting — Humboldt fragment XVI 227 

XXII. Plan of Mitla ruins, Oaxaca 251 

XXIII. Ground plan of Palace I, Mitla 253 

XXIV. Sketch of the facades on the north and south sides of the adjoin- 

ing court, Palace I, Mitla 256 

. XXV. One view of Palace II, Mitla 258 

XXVI. A second view of Palace II, Mitla 262 

XX VII. Front of Palace II, Mitla 264 

XXVIII. Hall of Columns, Palace II, Mitla 267 

XXIX. Interior court of Palace II, Mitla 269 

XXX. Interior of a room of Palace II, Mitla 1 273 

XXXI. Relief designs from the walls at Mitla 276 

XXXII. Relief designs from the walls at Mitla 295 

XXXIII. Pottery from a tomb at Zaachilla 297 

XXXIV. Pottery from a tomb at Zaachilla 301 

XXX V. Pottery fragments from Zaachilla and Cuilapa 303 

XXXVI. Pottery fragments from Zaachilla and Cuilapa 305 

XXXVII. Wall paintings at Mitla 313 

XXX VIII. Wall paintings at Mitla 318 

XXXIX. Wall paintings at Mitla 322 

XL. Plan of the temple Pyramid of Tepoxtlan 345 

XLI. The Tablet of the Cross, Palenque 547 

5 



6 BUKEAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

Page 

Plate XLII. Painted clay image of the god Macuil Xochitl 549 

XLIlIr Inscription on tlie Tablet of the Cross, Palenque 551 

XLIV. Glyi^hs from the Temple of Inscriptions 554 

XLV. Dress as shown in sculptured figures, Yucatan 604 

XL VI. Headdresses from the codices and monuments 618 

XLVII. Mexican and Maya household utensils 622 

XLVIII. Design on a vase from Chama 639 

XLIX. Design on a yase from Chama 665 

Fig. 1. Symbols of the cardinal points, colors, etc 28 

2. Mexican calendar wheel from Dun'in 29 

3. Symbols from the Maya codices 34 

4. Day signs and related glyphs, from the codices 39 

5. Day signs and related glyphs, from the Maya codices 51 

6. Copy of figure in Cozcatzin codex 60 

7. Mexican warrior's dress and shield 62 

8. Disks from Mexican codices 63 

9. Mexican shields 65 

10. Mexican drums ( ueuetl ) 67 

11. Mexican figures showing human heads in eagle's mouth 70 

12. Mexican feather ornaments 72 

13. Bowls from Guatemala 84 

14. Pottery vessels from Guatemala 85 

15. Pottery vessels and other articles from a Guatemalan mound 86 

16. Pottery vessels in the form of animals' heads, (^uatemala 89 

17. Pottery fragments from Guatemala , 93 

18. Pottery fragments from Guatemala 96 

19. Face-form vessels from Guatemala 98 

20. Pottery ornaments from Guatemala 100 

21. Pottery figures from Guatemala 102 

22. Pottery vessels from Guatemala 104 

23. Animal-shaped vessel from Guatema,la 106 

24. Ornamented bowls from Guatemala 108 

25. Pottery vessels from Guatemala . .. . 109 

26. Symbolic figures from Guatemalan pottery Ill 

27. Glyphs from Guatemalan pottery vessels 113 

28. Figures from Guatemalan pottery vessels 114 

29. Adjunct glyphs from Maya codices 120 

30. Headdresses and flags from Mexican codices 130 

31. Variatioiis of the Mexican seventh day symbol 133 

32. Symbols of gold plates and bowls of gold dust from Mexican codices. . 144 

33. Figures of priests, from Mendoza codex and Sahagun manuscript 147 

34. Symbols of cloth and precious stones 149 

35. Symbols of personal and place names in Mexican codices 151 

36. Symbols of place and personal names, Mexican codices 153 

37. Mexican symbols of persons and places 159 

38. Symbols of names 169 

39. Symbols from Mexican codices 172 

40. Symbols and figures from Mexican co(iiees 179 

41. Mexican glyphs from list of names 184 

42. Figure from Mexican manuscript, fragment I \' 186 

43. Mexican name glyphs 187 

44. Mexican symbols of various objects 197 

45. Mexican glyphs denoting various objects 202 



ILLUSTRATIONS 7 

Page 

Fig. 46. Mexican symbols for various articles 208 

47. Official signatures 215 

48. Symbols for certain persons and for numbers 218 

49. Mexican figures of the bat god 236 

50. Maya hiei'oglyphs of the bat god ^ 237 

51. Maya hieroglyphs of the bat god 238 

52. Maya hieroglyphs of the bat god 239 

53. Maya hieroglyphs of the bat god 240 

54. Symbols of official titles froui Mendoza codex 259 

55. Symbols of years and persons, from the Codex Telleriano-Remensis. . 262 

56. Battle scene from Mexican painting, Aubin-Goupil collection 263 

57. Mexican symbols of years and pueblos 264 

58. The five rain gods, from Borgian codex 268 

59. The twenty day signs, from Borgian codex 271 

60. Drawing blood from the ears, and implements of castigation from 

Mexican codices - - 282 

61. Self-punishment and symbols of two kings from Mexican codices 283 

62. Deity of the morning star, Mexican codex 287 

63. Figures of the deity of the morning star, Mexican codices 287 

64. Tepeyollotl and Tlacolteotl, Mexican deities, Borgian codex 291 

65. Tlaelquani, Mexican goddess, Borgian codex 291 

66. Tepeyollotl, Mexican deity, Borgian codex 292 

67. Mexican symbols and figures of deities, from Mendoza codex and 

Sahagun manuscript 295 

68. Gods Maciulxochitl and Ixtlilton, Mexican codices 297 

' 69. Relief fragments from Teotitlan del Valle, Zapotec 298 

70. Relief fragments from Teotitlan del Valle, Zapotec 299 

71. Mexican deities, from Vienna codex 303 

72. Symbols and figure of deities, from Mexican codices 307 

73. Supposed descent of Quetzalcouatl and house symbols, Vienna codex. 309 

74. Venus symbol and figures of mountains and house, from Maya and 

Mexican codices -. 310 

75. Temple and sun symbol, Borgian codex 310 

76. Mexican deity, Vienna codex 311 

77. Sculptured slab, Santa Lucia Cosamalhuapa, Guatemala 312 

78. Symbols and figures of Quetzalcouatl, from Mexican codices 315 

79. Mexican deities, after Dunin and Sahagun 319 

80. Procession and sacrifice, from Sahagun manuscript and Borgian codex . . 320 

81. Sacrifice and tribute bearer, from Mexican codices 321 

82. The sun god, Borgian codex 323 

83. Symbols of pueblos, from Mexican codices 342 

84. Temple pyramid of Tepoztlan, Valley of Cuernavaca 345 

85. View of interior of Tepoztlan, after Sevilla 346 

86. Glyphs of Mexican kings 347 

87. Tepoztecatl, the pulque god, from Mexican painting in Biblioteca 

Nazionale, Florence 349 

88. Stone idol, from Tepoztlan 350 

89. Stone figure, from the Uhde collection 350 

90. Stone figure of pulque god, Trocadero Museum 351 

91. " Juego de pelota", from Tepoztlan 352 

92. Mexican figures of the sun, moon, certain stars, and constellations... 356 

93. God of the morning star and fire god, Mexican 360 

94. Figures of the fire god and other deities, from the Mexican codices.. 363 



BUREAU 01^ AMERICAN ETHNOLOGy [bull. 28 



Fig. 95. Figures of supposed deities, Mexican codices 368 

96. Mexican deities and Maya hieroglyphs 369 

97. Deity figures from the Mexican codices 372 

98. Figures and glyphs of Ah-bolon tzacab, Maya codices 377 

99. Figures and symbols of Maya and Mexican deities 378 

100. Symbolic figures, from the Maya and Mexican codices 381 

101. Glyphs and deity figures, from the Maya codices 383 

102. Glyphs and deity figures, from the Maya codices 388 

103. Glyphs of the month Kayab, and turtle figures, from Maya codices 

and inscriptions ^ _ _ 424 

104. Glyphs and figures, from the Maya codices 425 

105. Glyphs of animals and month Mol, from Maya codices 428 

107. Glyphs from the Maya codices 441 

108. Glyphs from the Dresden codex 448 

109. Glyphs from the Dresden codex 469 

110. Glyphs from the Dresden codex 503 

111. Glyphs from the Dresden codex 505 

112. Day signs from the Maya codices 5I8 

113. Glyphs from the Palenque inscriptions 585 

114. Glyphs from the Dresden codex 598 

115. Glyphs from the Dresden codex 599 

116. Figures showing tattooing and facial decoration 600 

117. Representations of sandals, from Dresden codex and inscriptions ... 603 

118. Representation of sandals and leg ornaments 604 

119. Leg and wrist ornaments 605 

120. Dress of the lower part of the body of females 606 

121. Dress of the lower body, from codices and sculptures 608 

122. Dress of females, from Dresden codex and monuments 609 

123. Mantles from Maya codices 610 

124. Figures showing dress, feather work, and necklaces 612 

125. Necklaces, ear ornaments, and so-called elephant trunk 614 

126. Ear ornaments and collars 616 

127. Ear ornament and symbol 616 

128. Headdresses from Maya codices and monuments 618 

129. A weaver's shuttle, from Yucatan 621 

130. Glyphs from Maya codices and inscriptions 644 

131. Figures of warriors, from the Mendoza codex 653 

132. Messengers and traders attacked, from Mendoza codex 653 

133. Travelers and whip, from Columbino codex and Chama vase 654 

134. Figures from codices showing beards, and glyphs from vase 659 



INTRODUCTION 



For a number of j^ears English-speaking- students of aboriginal 
American historj^ have given much attention to the archeology and 
especiall.y to the glyphic writing of the semicivilized peoples of 
middle America. Researches relating to the latter subject are of 
exceptional importance, not only because of their bearing on native 
history, but on account of their application to the problems of the 
origin and development of writing in general. Investigations regard- 
ing the American glyphic system have been greatly stimulated in 
recent years by kindred researches in various parts of the world, and 
more especially by the remarkable results achieved by Egyptologists, 
who, through the discovery of the Rosetta stone, have been aMe to 
present to the world historic treasures of the greatest value. Although 
there is no prospect that an American " Rosetta stone" will be found, 
since only one well-advanced system of writing had developed in the 
New World, the present investigations along this line are well worth 
the attention of the American Government. 

Among the scholars engaged in the studv of the native American 
writing is Mr Charles P. Bowditch, of Boston, who is earnestly seek- 
ing to promote researches in this direction. He found that American 
students who essayed to enter this field svere greatly embarrassed by 
the fact that much of the literature bearing on the" subject was pub- 
lished in foreign languages, and often in forms that placed it beyond 
their reach. Access to this literature is essential to the success of 
English-speaking- students of the glyphs, and Mr Bowditch resolved 
to undertake the translation and publication of a number of the more 
important papers. He advised with Major Powell with respect to pub- 
lication, and it was arranged that the translations, when completed, 
should be brought out by the Bureau of American Ethnology. The 
manuscript translations were furnished in 1900, but were not edited 
or finally presented for publication until 1903. They are now' issued 
in the present bulletin, without modification, save that the illustrations 
are somewhat differently assembled. It is considered advisable to 
present the papers as nearly in their original form as translations per- 
mit, in order to faithfully record the state of the researches at the 
period of their original publication. 



10 BUEEAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

The translations were made, under the direction and at the expense 
of Mr Bowditch, by Miss Selma Wesselhoeft, with the assistance of 
Miss A. M. Parker. Supervision of the publication was entrusted to 
Dr Cyrus Thomas, of the Bureau, whose familiarity with the arche- 
olo^}^ and especially with the glj^phic writing of middle America has 
been of much value in the revision of the proofs. 

Dr Eduard Seler, author of a number of papers herein republished, 
was engaged in exploration in Central America and Mexico while 
his memoirs were being put in t3q3e, hence it was not possible to 
submit the proofs to him at the time. Having returned recently to 
Berlin, however, Doctor Seler, has prepared brief notes and ha^ made 
necessary corrections and important additions. These appear at the 
close of the volume. 

In 1886 the Director of the Bureau was authorized to begin the 
publication of a series of bulletins in octavo form and in paper covers, 
designed for the expeditious printing of minor papers relating to 
American ethnology. Between 1886 and 1900 twenty-four bulletins 
appeared, and in 1900 provision was made for the publication of suc- 
ceeding numbers in large octavo form, and uniform in binding with 
the annual reports. Nos. 25, 26, and 27 were issued in this style. In 
1903, in the interest of economy, Congress authorized the return to 
the octavo form, in which the present number is issued. 



THE MEXICAN CHRONOLOGY 

WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE ZAPOTEC CALENDAR 

BY 

EDUARD SELER. 



11 



THE MEXICAN CHRONOLOGY 

WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE ZAPOTEC CALENDAR « 



By Eduard Seler 



The peculiarities of the system of chronology in use among the 
various civilized nations of ancient Mexico and as far as Nicaragua are 
well known. We know that it was based on a period of 20 days, which 
were known by the names of various tangible objects, half of thfem the 
names of animals, and which were hieroglyphically designated hj pic- 
tures of these animals or objects. Twenty signs were taken on account 
of the vigesimal system of numeration, which all these races usM. The 
calculation of the days, however, at least in the prevailing chronology, 
was not carried on according to this vigesimal system, but the numerals 
1 to 13 were combined with these twentj^ signs, so that each of the suc- 
cessive days was distinguished by a sign and a numeral in su(;h a way 
that when the numeral 1, combined with the lirst sign, served to desig- 
nate the tirst day, the fourteenth day took the fourteenth sign, but with 
the n umeral 1 again. Th us, a period of 13 X 20, or 260, days was obtained 
as a higher chronologic unit. For only after the lapse of this period 
of time did a day again obtain the same numeral and the same sign. 

In the following table (Table I) the twenty signs are designated by 
Roman, the thirteen numerals by Arabic, numerals. 

Table I (first half) 



1 


I 


8 


I 


2 


I 


9 


I 


3 


I 


10 


I 


4 


I 


2 


II 


9 


II 


3 


II 


10 


II 


4 


II 


11 


II 


5 


II 


3 


III 


10 


III 


4 


III 


11 


III 


5 


III 


12 


III 


6 


III 


4 


IV 


11 


IV 


6 


IV 


12 


IV 


6 


IV 


13 


IV 


7 


V 


5 


V 


12 


V 


6 


V 


13 


V 


7 


V 


1 


V 


8 


V 


6 


VI 


13 


VI 


7 


VI 


1 


VI 


8 


VI 


2 


VI 


9 


• VI 


7 


VII 


1 


VII 


8 


VII 


2 


VII 


9 


VII 


3 


VII 


10 


VII 


8 


VIII 


2 


VIII 


9 


VIII 


3 


VIII 


10 


VIII 


4 


VHI 


11 


VIII 


9 


IX 


3 


IX 


10 


IX 


4 


IX 


11 


IX 


5 


IX 


12 


IX 


10 


X 


4 


X 


11 


X 


5 


X 


12 


X 


6 


X 


13 


X 


11 


XI 


5 


XI 


12 


XI 


6 


XI 


13 


XI 


7 


XI 


1 


XI 


12 


XII 


6 


XII 


13 


XII 


7 


XII 


1 


XII 


8 


XII 


2 


XII 


13 


XIII 


7 


XIII 


1 


XIII 


8 


XIII 


2 


XIII 


9 


XIII 


3 


XIII 


1 


XIV 


8 


XIV 


'2 


XIV 


9 


XIV 


3 


XIV 


id 


XIV 


4 


XIV 


2 


XV 


9 


XV 


3 


XV 


10 


■ XV 


4 


XV 


11 


XV 


5 


XV 


3 


XVI 


10 


XVI 


4 


XVI 


11 


XVI 


5 


XVI 


12 


XVI 


6 


XVI 


4 


XVII 


11 


XVII 


5 


XVII 


12 


XVII 


6 


XVII 


13 


XVII 


7 


XVII 


5 


XVIII 


12 


XVIII 


6 


XVIII 


13 


XVIII 


7 


XVIII 


1 


XVIII 


8 


XVIII 


6 


XIX 


13 


XIX 


7 


XIX 


1 


XIX 


8 


XIX 


2 


XIX 


9 


XIX 


7 


XX 


1 


XX 


8 


XX 


- 


XX 


9 


XX 


3 


XX 


10 


XX 



aZeitschrift fiir Ethnologie, Berlin, 1891. 



13 



14 



BUEEAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 

Table I (second half) 



[bull. 28 



11 


I 


5 


I 


12 


I 


6 


I 


13 


I 


7 


I 


1 I 


12 


II 


6 


II 


13 


II 


7 


II 


1 


II 


8 


II 


And so on. 


13 


III 


7 


III 


1 


III 


8 


III 


2 


III 


9 


III 




1 


IV 


8 


IV 


2 


IV 


9 


IV 


3 


IV 


10 


IV 




2 


V 


9 


V 


3 


V 


10 


V 


4 


V 


11 


V 




3 


VI 


10 


VI 


4 


VI 


11 


VI 


5 


VI 


12 


VI 




4 


VII 


11 


VII 


5 


VII 


12 


VII 


6 


VII 


13 


VII 




5 


VIII 


12 


VIII 


6 


VIII 


13 


VIII 


7 


VIII 


1 


VIII 




6 


IX 


13 


IX 


7 


IX 


1 


IX 


8 


IX 


2 


IX 




7 


X 


1 


X 


8 


X 


2 


X 


9 


X 


3 


X 




8 


XI 


2 


XI 


9 


XI 


3 


XI 


10 


XI 


4 


XI 




9 


XII 


3 


XII 


10 


XII 


4 


XII 


11 


XII 


5 


XII 




10 


XIII 


4 


XIII 


11 


XIII 


5 


XIII 


12 


XIII 


6 


XIII 




11 


XIV 


5 


XIV 


12 


XIV 


6 


XIV 


13 


XIV 


7 


XIV 




12 


XV 


6 


XV 


13 


XV 


7 


XV 


1 


XV 


8 


XV 




13 


XVI 


7 


XVI 


1 


XVI 


8 


XVI 


2 


XVI 


9 


XVI 




1 


XVII 


8 


XVII 


2 


XVII 


9 


XVII 


3 


XVII 


10 


XVII 




2 


XVIII 


9 


XVIII 


3 


XVIII 


10 


XVIII 


4 


XVIII 


11 


XVIII 




3 


XIX 


10 


XIX 


4 


XIX 


11 


XIX 


5 


XIX 


■12 


XIX 




4 


XX 


11 


XX 


5 


XX 


12 


XX 


6 


XX 


13 


XX 





This period of 260 daj^s, the tonalamatl ("book of days"), in 
Mexican, ch'ol k'ih ("reckoning- of da3^s"j, or k'am uuh ("book of 
fates"), in Guatenialleoan, was on the contrary called by the Mayas in 
Guatemala, it seems — though the general opinion is different — kin 
katun ("the order of days"), and was made to agree w4th the rest of 
the system of chronology in various ways. 

The nations of ancient Mexico reckoned 365 da3^s to their year. 
This appears from the nature of their designation of the year and 
from the number of years which the}^ combined into a larger period. 
Since 365 = (28 X 13) + 1 and also (18 X 20) + 5, it follows that when, for 
instance, a year began with a day which took the numeral 1 and the 
sign I, then the initial day of the following year must necessaril}' have 
been called by the numeral 2 and sign VI, that of the third year by 
numeral 3 and sign XI, of the fourth year by numeral 4 and sign 
XVI; while the initial day of the fifth year would take the numeral 5 
and go back to sign I. We have thus the following series of begin- 
nings of years: 



selee] 



THE MEXICAN CHRONOLOGY 
Table II 



15 



1 


I 


1 


VI 


1 


XI 


1 


XVI 


1 I 


2 


VI 


2 


XI 


2 


XVI 


2 


I 


And so 


3 


XI 


3 


XVI 


3 


I 


3 


VI 


on, as at 


4 


XVI 


4 


I 


4 


VI 


4 


XI 


the be- 


5 


I 


6 


VI 


5 


XI 


5 


XVI 


ginning. 


6 


VI 


6 


XI 


6 


XVI 


6 


I 




7 


XI 


7 


XVI 


7 


I 


7 


VI 




8 


XVI 


8 


I 


8 


VI 


8 


XI 




9 


I 


9 


VI 


9 


XI 


9 


XVI 




10 


VI 


10 


XI 


10 


XVI 


10 


I 




11 


XI 


11 


XVI 


11 


I 


11 


VI 




12 


XVI 


12 


I 


12 


VI 


12 


XI 




13 


I 


13 


VI 


13 


XI 


13 


XVI 





We see that, if we presuppose a year of 365 da3^s, only four of the 
twent}^ day signs fall on initial days — four signs vs^hich are five signs 
distant from each other. 

And we see that if we accept the theory of a year of 365 days a 
period of 62 years necessarily ensues. For since 365 = 5 X 73, and 73 
is a prime number, it can only occur after 260h-5, or 52, years, that the 
same number and the same sign of the tonalamatl will fall on the initial 
day of the year. Now we know by the unanimous statements of his- 
torians and documents that the Mexican nations designated their years 
after the fashion shown by the above tables of initial days of the year, 
and it is authoritatively stated of certain races that these names of the 
years were taken from the names of their initial days. On the other 
hand, we know that all the ancient nations of Mexico knew a period of 
52 years and reckoned by it. We must therefore conclude that the 
year of 365 days was indeed accepted in Mexico, as was stated above, 
and therefore that the computation of time fell behind the actual 
length of the year by 6 hours, 9 minutes, and 10 seconds in the inter- 
calary year and by 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 48 seconds in the ordinary 
year. 

This simple and clear, and, when we consider the degree of civilization 
■ of the ancient Mexicans, by no means very remarkable fact, has up 
to the present time been obstinately overlooked by the authors who have 
written upon Mexican chronology. There are three circumstances 
in particular which interfere with a correct conception of the state of 
affairs— first, certain assumptions in respect to the last five days of 
the year; then, the assertions of historians in regard to interpolations 
which are supposed to have taken place at certain regularly recurring 
periods; and, lastly, the variability of the beginning of the year among 
various races and also, as it seems, at various times, which has hitherto 



16 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

rendered impossible any authentic concordance of -fixed historically 
ceitified dates of the Mexican calendar with our chronology. 

The chronologic unit, 20 days, is contained eighteen times in 365 
days. Each of these eighteen twenties — falsely called "months" by 
the Spanish — was dedicated to a special deity and gave rise to a special 
lestival, which was connected with the season of the year, the work to 
be done at that season, and with that which was expected of the season. 
I'ive days were left over, to which, as superfluous, a certain sinister 
meaning was ascribed. The Mexicans called them nemontemi or 
nen-ontemi, that is, "the superfluous, supplementary days", with 
the secondary significance, "the useless da3^s, which were consecrated 
to no deity, useful for no civic business" — acam pouhqui, "which 
neither fell to any nor were dedicated to any, which were held in no 
esteem", as appears from the Aztec text of book 2, chapter 37, of the 
historical w^ork by Father Sahagun, in which the}" are explained in 
these words: Estos cinco dias a ningun dios estan dedicados, y por eso 
les llamavan nemontemi, que quiere decir_ por demas ("These five 
days are dedicated to no god, and hence they are called nemontemi,, 
which is to say superfluous "). They were held to be harmful days 
(baldios y aciagos). For with the word nen, "that which exceeds", 
was also connected the idea of "superfluous", "unfit", "useless". 
No action of an}^ importance whatever, nor any which transcended 
the circle of the most necessary offices of life, was undertaken. 
The house was not swept, no cause was tried, and the unfortunate 
person who was born on one of these days, "is destined to no 
happiness; miserable and wretched and poor shall he live upon the 
earth" (quihiotinemiz ompa onquiztinemiz yn tlalticpac). But these 
days had, especially, a prophetic power for the whole yenv (a3^ac 
teauaya, ayac manaya, auh yn aca oncan teaua, quilmach cenquicui) 
" No one quarreled, no one got into any dispute, for whoever quarreled 
on these days, it was believed, would always continue to do so ", we 
read in Sahagun's Aztec text. And still more explicit is another 
passage, which Sahagini gives in the following words; Guardabanse 
en estos dias fatales, de dormir entre dia, ni de renir unos con otros, 
ni de tropezar, ni de caer, porque decian que si alguna cosa de estas 
les acontecia que siempre les habia de acontecer adelante ("Thev were 
careful during these fatal days not to fall asleep during the day, not 
to quarrel together, not to trip or to fall, because they said that if any 
of these things befell them, they would continue to befall them thence 
forevermore"). 

We find the same notion in Yucatan. On these days men left the 
house as seldom as possible, did not wash or comb themselves, and 
took special care not to undertake any menial or difficult task, doubt- 
less because they lived in the conviction that they would l)e forced to 
keep on doing it through the whole ensuing year. The Mexicans wer« 



BULLETIN 28 PLATE I 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 




seler] 



THE MEXICAN CHRONOLOGY 17 



more passive in regard to these days, inasmuch as they merely took 
care to avoid conjuring up mischief for the coming year, while the 
Mayas did things more thoroughly. During these days, so portentous 
for the entire year, they banished the evil which might threaten them. 
They prepared a clay image of the demon of evil, Uuayayab, that is, 
u-uayab-haab (" by whom the year is poisoned"), confronted it with 
the cleity who had supreme power during the year in question, and 
then carried it out of the village in the direction of that cardinal point 
to which the new year belonged. 

Of these five days writers commonly say " they were not counted." 
And we take this to mean that the ordinary designation of the days by 
numerals and signs was not applied to these days. It is true that 
Sahagun's Aztec text affords ground for this supposition, for it says 
of the nemontemi: Yn aoctle yn toca tonalli, yn aocmo ompouih, yn 
aocmo om pouhque ("The days no longer have names; they are no 
longer counted"). And farther on: Ca atle ytonal, ca atle ytoca 
. . . ca nel amo ompouhque atle ypouallo ("They have no signs, 
no names . . . for in truth they are not counted"). Duran states 
even more clearly: Los cinco dias que sobraban, tenian los esta 
nacion por dias aciagos, sin cuenta ni provecho; asi los dejaban en 
bianco, sin ponerles figura ni cuenta, y asi los llamaban nemontemi, 
que quiere decir dias demasiados y sin provecho ("The five days that 
remained this nation held to be unfortunate days, of no account or 
advantage; so they left them blank, without giving them figure or 
account, and so called them nemontemi, which means days superfluous 
and of no advantage"). In Yucatan these days were also directly 
designated as xma kaba kin ("days without names"). And what 
Duran states is illustrated in Landa; in the calendar recorded by him, 
the five superfluous days are left blank, without number or sign. Are 
we therefore actually to suppose that these days interrupted the con- 
tinuous tonalamatl calculation? I think not. The acam pouhqui and 
aocmo ompouhque do not state that these days are dropped out of the 
reckoning, but, as Sahagun also quite correctly explains, that no feast 
was celebrated upon them; that they were held improper and worth- 
less for civic action. Compare acan ompoui, cosa insuficiente y falta, 
6 persona de quien no se hace caso ("insuificient and faulty thing, or 
person held of no account"). (Molina.) We must also attach the 
same meaning to the phrase atle ytoca and the Maya designation xma 
kaba kin. And if these days were left blank, according to Duran and 
Landa, this only signified that men avoided mentioning these unlucky 
days in any v/aj. They were counted in silence. Otherwise Landa, 
for instance, could not state that the successive years began with the 
dominical letters Kan, Muluc, Ix, Cauac, that is, with signs IV, IX, 
XIV, XIX; but we should have to assume, as, indeed, old Gama does, 
7238— No. 28—05 2- 



18 BUEEAU OF AMERICAN ETHTSTOLOGY [bull. 28 

though doubtless incorrectly, that all years began with the same num- 
eral and the same sign. 

It seems, on the contrary, to be correct, as Gama (Dos Piedras, page 
76) states, that the live days nemontemi were destitute of acom- 
panados, that is, that the constantly repeated series of the nine 
so-called seiiores de la noche ("lords of the night"), which were 
continuousl}^ counted along with the signs for the days, were onh" 
extended to the three hundred and sixtieth day of the year. Gama's 
chief sources for his assertions in regard to the old chronology are the 
notes written in the Mexican language by Don Cristobal del Castillo, 
an Indian of the aristocratic Tetzcocan race, who died in 1606 at the age 
of 80. His notes are also undoubtedly the source from which Gama took 
the calendar which he prints on pages 62 to 75 of his book, and this 
therefore has the authority of unbroken tradition in its favor. This 
calendar begins the j^ear with ce Cipactli, that is, II, and further 
counts the nemontemi with numerals and signs (10 1, 11 II, 12 III, 13 IV, 
1 V). But the series of nine senores de la noche breaks off with the 
three hundred and sixtieth day of the j^ear. Orozco y Berra makes 
the interesting suggestion that the object of this double computation 
was to distinguish the days of the year which, by the tonalamatl reckon- 
ing, would take the same numeral and sign, by omitting the "acom- 
panado". In fact, if the first day of the year, which Gama places on 
the 9th of January, were distinguished b_y 11, then the two hundred 
and sixty-first day of the year, that is, September 26, would receive 
the same name. But if the first day (II, or Januarj^ 9) were accom- 
panied by the first of the "acompanados" (Xiuhtecutli Tletl), the last 
day (II, or September 26) would take the ninth (Quiauitl-Tlaloc), for 
260-^-9 = 28 and 8 over. If Gama's statement that the nemontemi are 
destitute of acompanados be correct, then the successive years Avould 
always begin with the same acompaiiado. And if we take the first 
of them, the fire god, as that of the initial da}^, we may perhaps 
have in this circumstance the simple explanation of the most com- 
mon of the various names of the fire god, that is, Xiuhtecutli ("Lord 
of the year"). 

With the nemontemi are connected the oldest statements in regard 
to interpolations, which are said to have been made at stated periods 
by the Mexicans, in order to bring their 3'^ear of 365 days into har- 
mony with the actual length of the solar j^ear. Father Sahagun says 
in the heading to the nineteenth chapter of his second book: Hay 
conjetura que cuando ahujeraban las orejas a los ninos .y ninas, que era 
de cuatro en cuatro anos, echaban seis dias de nemontemi, y es lo 
mismo del bisiesto, que nosotros hacemos de cuatro en cuatro aiios 
("There is a conjecture that when they pierced the ears of the boys and 
girls, which was every four years, they rejected six days as nemontemi, 
and it is the same as the leap jea,r which we make everj^ four years"). 



SELER] THE MEXICAlsr CHRONOLOGY 19 

And in another place: Otra fiesta hacian de cuatro en cuatro anos a 
honra del f ueg-o, en la qual aliujeraban las orejas a todos los nifios, y 
la llamaban pillauanaliztli, y en esta fiesta es verosimil y liay conjeturas 
que hacian su bisiesto, contando seis dias de nemontemi ("They cele- 
brated another festival every four years in honor of tire, in which 
the}^ pierce the ears of all the children, and they called it pillauanaliztli, 
and in tliis festival it is probable and there are conjectures that they 
made their leap year, counting six days as nemontemi"). Observe, 
the Father saj^s: Es verosimil j hay conjeturas ("It is probable 
and it is conjectured"). He does not say that he has heard it, and, 
indeed, there is not a word about it in the passages in question of the 
Aztec text. Father Sahagun's conjecture is repeated as an actual fact 
hj later authors. The learned Dominican Father Burgoa gives it as 
such in regard to the Mixteca and the inhabitants of Tehuantepec 
(Geografica Descripcion, quoted by Orozco y Berra, volume 2, page 
136), without furnishing any evidence for his assertion. On the 
other hand, other ancient authors directl}^ conti-adict this supposition. 
Father Motolinia, who was one of the first missionaries to the country, 
sa3^s: Los indios naturales de esta Nueva Espana, al tiempo que esta 
tierra se gano y entraron en ella los Espanoles, comenzaban su afio en 
principios de Marzo; mas por no alcanzar bisiesto, van variando su 
ano por todos los meses ("The native Indians of this New Spain, 
at the time when this land was gained and the Spaniards entered into 
it, commenced their 3^ear at the beginning of March; but not under- 
standing leap 3"ear they keep changing their year through all the 
months"). Father Torquemada is of the same opinion. And the 
author of the Chronica de la S. Provincia del Santissimo Nombre 
de Jesus de Guatemala of the year 1683 remarks: Porque como ni 
los Mexicanos ni estos (los Guatemaltecas) alcanzaron el bisiesto . . . 
se apartaban y diferenciaban de nuestro calendario, j asi ni estos ni 
los Mexicanos comenzaban siempre su aiio a primero de nuestro 
Febrero sino que cada cuatro afios se atrasaban un dia . . . ("Because 
since neither the Mexicans nor these (the Guatemalans) understood leap 
5^ear . . . they differed from our calendar, and so neither they nor 
the Mexicans commenced their year always at the first of our Febru- 
ary, but every four years they were behind one day . . . "). Indeed, 
had such an intercalation actually occurred, the period of 52 years and 
the consequent further designation of the da3^s in it would be an 
absurdit}^; or, at least, this intercalation must have been noted as an 
important factor in every enumeration extending over the period of 
four years. But I have not hitherto been able to find any trace of it 
either in the Aztec or the Maya manuscripts. 

Knowing the difficult}^ of establishing any agreement in this way 
between the old Indian chronology and the more correct European 
computation of time, later writers have suggested that an entire week 



20 BUEEAU OF AMEEICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

of 13 days was interpolated at the end of the xiuhmolpilli, the period 
of 52 years. This theory is probabl}^ to be ascribed to the learned 
Jesuit Don Carlos Sigiienza y Gong-ora, who lived in the second half 
of the seventeenth century. The work of this author, Ciclografia 
Mexicana, is apparently lost, but Gemelli Carreri and Clavigero refer 
to it. Sigiienza had important documents at his disposal, papers and 
picture manuscripts, which belonged to Don Juan de Alva Ixtlilxochitl, 
a descendant of the royal Tetzcocan family, and he was a trained 
astronomer. His conjecture is all the more acceptable also because it 
leaves the arrangement of the daj^s in the period of 62 years untouched. 
In spite of this I think that his assertions rest upon groundless con- 
jectures. Nowhere in the older authors do we learn that a festival of 
13 days' duration was held at the end of the period of 52 years. They 
always refer to one night only, the turning point of the century, dur- 
ing which the people awaited the flaming up of the new lire upon 
Uixachtepec with fear and trembling. In the picture manuscripts we 
find periods of time set down which extend over the period of 52 years, 
and where the arrangement of the days is carried over without a jump 
from one period to the other (see, for instance, pages 46 to 50 of the 
Dresden manuscript, the well-known pages from which E. Forstemann 
proved the series of dates to be 236, 90, 250, and 8 days apart). On 
them are recorded, beginning with the day 1 Ahau, the thirteenth of the 
month Mac, 13 X 2,920 days, or a period of 13 X 8, that is, 2x 52, or 104, 
years, in dates separated by regular distances, without a hiatus of any 
kind between one and the other of the two cycles of 52 years. Still 
greater periods of time are noted down upon the last leaves of the 
Dresden manuscript by continuous, uninterrupted dates accompanied 
b}^ check numbers. 

But the advocates of intercalation also appeal to manuscripts. 
Clavigero (volume 2, page 62) says: Questi tredici giorni erano 
gl'intercalari, segnati nelle lor dijunture con punti turchini; non gli 
contavano nel secolo gia compito, neppur nel seguente, ne continu- 
avano in esse i periodi di giorni, che andavano sempre numerando dal 
primo sino alio ultimo giorno del secolo ("These thirteen days were 
the intercalary ones, designated in printing them by blue dots; they 
were not counted in the century already completed, nor in the follow- 
ing one either, nor were the periods of days continued in them which 
were continuously numbered from the first to the last day of the 
century"). Clavigero himself has not seen these manuscripts, but 
refers to Don Carlos Sigiienza. The materials which Sigiienza pos- 
sessed seem for the most part to have passed into the possession of 
Boturini. In consequence of their seizure by vice-regal authority they 
disappeared from the scene. A part of them are in the Aubin collec- 
tion, whose present owner is M Eugene Goupil, of Paris. I do not 
think that there are any papers among them which justify Clavigero's 



SEi.ER] THE MEXICAN CHRONOLOGY 21 

assertion. And yet I have seen blue numeral signs in a Maya manu- 
script, which might be interpreted in the sense of a correction or 
possibly also of an interpolation. On pages 23 and 24 of the Perez 
codex, the Mexican manuscript of the Bibliotheque Nationale at Paris 
are thirteen columns of 5 days each, which must be read from right 
to left and from above downward, as the addition and as the position 
of the hieroglyphs show, which, unlike the mode of writing employed 
elsewhere in the Ma}^^ manuscripts, is face backward (to the left). 
The separate dates in the series each differ by 28 days and the last date 
in the first (top) row differs from the first date in the second row by 28 
days also. There are in all 5 X 13 X 28, or 7 X 260 days, that is, the 
space of 7 tonalamatl. The numerals belonging to the dates of the 
days are, as usual, written in red, but above or below each column of 
figures another figure is written in blue, which would denote a date 
some 20 days further on. This is evidently a correction, but scarcely 
one which can be taken for a sort of intercalation. It is a correction 
which states what figures belong to the dates when the beginning of 
the whole series is pushed forward by a unit of 20 days. 

Leon y Gama varies Sigiienza's theory of intercalation by stating 
(Dos Piedras, pages 52 and 63) that the Mexicans interpolated 25 days 
at the close of a double cycle of 104 years, or 12i days at the end of a 
52-year cycle, and according to this the days of the one cycle began in 
the morning, those of the other in the evening. But this is mere spec- 
ulation. Finally, the theory of the Jesuit Fabrega, with which A. 
von Humboldt agrees (Vue des Cordilleres, volume 2, page 81), that 
the Mexicans suppressed 7 days at the close of a great period of 20 
cycles, or 1,040 years, and thus reduced their year to almost the exact 
length of the tropical year, rests upon an actual error. The passage in 
question from the Borgian codex (pages 62 to 66) by no means treats of 
so long a space of time. The simple series of twenty day signs is repre- 
sented by beginning with Malinalli, or XII, on page <6Q and ending on 
page 62 with Ozomatli, or XI. The signs were undoubtedly originally 
intended to be distributed around four sides of a square with the last 
(Ozomatli) in the middle. 

If, as I believe, the theory of intercalation is to be rejected, the 
question arises all the more forcibly. How did the Mexicans contrive 
to make their system of chronology agree with the actual time? Must 
they not have speedily observed that their annual feasts, which fell in 
portions of the year determined by the course of the sun, the alterna- 
tion of wet and dry weather, winter sleep and perfection of vegetation, 
were noticeably advanced in the course of successive years ? Doubtless 
they did observe it, but they could hardly have known how to remedy 
it. And doubtless the confused and contradictory statements given 
by the Indians themselves in regard to the time of their new year and 
the true time of the various festivals were due to this uncertaint}^, to 



22 BUEEAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

the lack of intercalations. Es de notar ("It is to be noted''), sa3^s 
Sahag-un at the close of his seventh book, que discrepan mucho en 
di versos lugares del principio del ano; en unas partes me dijeron que 
comenzaba a tantos de Enero; en otras que a primcro de Febrero; en 
otras que a principios de Marzo. En el Tlaltelolco junte muchos viejos, 
los mas diestros que yo pude aver, y juntamente con los mas Imbiles 
de los coleg-iales se alterco esta materia por muchos dias, y todos ellos 
concluyeron, diciendo, que comenzaba el ano el segundo dia de Febrero 
("that the beginning of the year differs greatly in different places; in 
some parts they told me that it began on such a day in Januarj^; in 
others on the 1st of February; in others at the beginning of March. 
In Tlaltelolco I assembled many old men, the most skillful possible, and 
together with the most learned scholars they disputed as to this matter 
for many days, and they all concluded by saying that the year began 
on the second day of February "). 

The festivals connected with the course of the seasons, with their 
elaborate ceremonies, had undoubtedly been observed from the earliest 
ages and were similarly celebrated over large portions of the country. 
The fixing of the beginning of the year was closely connected with 
these festivals, and was also, as may positively be asserted, originally 
the same over large portions of the country. The earlier, however, 
that a tribe gave up vaguely determining these festivals according to 
the course of tlie sun and the condition of the crops and the priests 
began to keep account of them by means of the continuous tonalamatl 
computation, the more must the beginning of the year and the festi- 
vals, or the relation of the latter to the beginning of the year, have 
been displaced for that tribe. 

There is reason to believe that what the Indian conference called 
together at Tlaltelolco by Sahagun finally determined, namely, that 
the year began with the Quauitleua, the feast of the rain god (Tlaloque), 
and on the 2d of February, according to Christian computation, 
very nearly corresponded to the original custom; for in far distant 
Yucatan, inhabited by a different civilized nation, we ffnd an approach 
to this idea in Landa's statement that the Mayas celebrated in honor 
of the rain gods (Chac), the feast Ocna ("Entrance into the house"), 
or, as Landa translates it, "Renewal of the temple", in one of the 
so-called months (really units of 20 days) Chen and Yax; that is, about 
the month of January, on a day which the priests expressly deter- 
mined, doubtless according to the chronology kept by them.^ Mira- 
ban los pronosticos de los Bacabes ("They beheld the prophecies of 
the Bacabs"); that is, they decided according to the deity who ruled 
over the year whether the year would be good or bad. Y demas 
desto renovavan los idolos de barro y sus braseros, y si era menester, 
hacian de nuevo la casa 6 renovabanla, y ponian on la pared la memoria 
destas cosas con sus caracteres ("And besides this they renewed their 



seler] 



THE MEXICAN CHRONOLOUY 23 



idols of clay and their braziers, and if necessary they rebuilt the house or 
renovated it, and placed upon the wall the memory of these things in 
their proper characters"); that is, they established the character which 
the year was to have and renewed their objects of worship and house- 
hold utensils— ceremonies whose original meaning can only have been 
that the beginning of the year was set at this time. In fact, the Zotzil 
of Chiapas, whose people were near kin to the Mayas, seem also to 
have begun the year with the month Chen, which they called Tzun, 
that is, ^'beginning" (see Pineda, quoted by Orozco y Berra, volume 
2, page 142). I may remark by the way that, just as we tind the 
New Year's feast of the Mexicans among the Mayas, so, too, the man- 
ner in which half a year later, in the month of July, the Mayas 
observed their real New Year by solemnly conducting the spirit of 
evil out of the village tinds an analogy among- the Mexicans in the 
broom festival (Ochpaniztli), observed in August. 

The decision of the Indian conference at Tlaltelolco— that the first 
day, Quauitleua, fell at the beginning of February— must therefore also 
be regarded as corresponding quite closely to the actual custom, because 
if it did so the various festivals were suited to the seasons in which 
they fell. The sixth feast, Etzalqualiztli, which refers to the setting 
in of the rainy season, fell on May 13. Don Cristobal del Castillo, 
who drew his information from Tetzcocan sources, and whom Gama 
follows, begins the year with the feast Tititl, which lay two twenties 
back, but sets the beginning of the year full 24 days earlier, so that by 
his reckoning the feast Etzalqualiztli, belonging to the opening of the 
rainy season, falls on the 29th of May. The interpreter of the Codex 
Yaticanus A in one place accepts the 15th, in another the 24th of Feb- 
ruary, as the beginning of the year. According to this Etzalqualiztli 
would fall on May 26 or June 4. Clavigero's opinion that the 26th of 
February and Duran's that the 1st of March was the beginning of the 
year do not differ very widely from what is indicated by the nature of 
the seasons. Etzalqualiztli, the setting in of the rainy season, would 
fall on the 6th or 9th of June. We should thus have for the latter 
event, specially important in the life of the civilized peoples of 
Mexico, a range of about the length of one of our months, which 
fully corresponds with the natural conditions. If, finally, Tlaxcaltec 
sources make the year begin with Atemoztli, a feast occurring some 
three twenties before Quauitleua, this gives us as the latest term which 
we find appointed for Quauitleua the last of December as the beginning 
of the year— a theory which again changes the beginning of the year 
to what was a significant time as well to the YIexicans as the Mayas: 
the middle of the dry season. But the very fact that the nemontemi, 
the final and supplementary days of the year, were set now before 
Quauitleua, now before Tititl, now before Atemoztli, or elsewhere, as 
before Tlacaxipeualiztli, as according to the Guatemalan Cronica Fran- 



^4 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

ciscana of 1683, was usual among the Cakchikels, proves that festivals 
were displaced among- the Mexicans, that their years were actually too 
short, and that they were constantly falling into confusion in iheir 
calendar of feasts. 

But if among the Mexicans festivals were constantly displaced in 
consequence of their inability to express the real length of the year in 
their system of chronology, on the other hand the tonalamatl computa- 
tion offered a strong framework, which, elaborated by the expert hands 
of priests, left not a moment's doubt as to the space of time which 
divided a given day from another. At one point only is the uncer- 
tainty of Mexican chronology apparent here; that is in regard to the 
iirst day of their year and to the titles which were assigned to the 
different years, corresponding to their initial days. If, as I said 
above, it necessarily follows from the system of the tonalamatl and the 
acceptance of a year of 365 days that of the twenty day signs only 
four fall on the opening days of the year, which four were each four 
signs apart, one from the other (that is, there were four intermediate 
signs), and if we further find that the years were usually designated by 
four day signs standing four signs apart, it is then the most natural 
inference that it was from- the initial days of the year that these years 
themselves were named. But this does not seem, or at least not uni- 
versally, to have been the case. 

Among the Mexicans the years were designated by the signs Acatl 
(reed), Tecpatl (flint), Calli (house), Tochtli (rabbit); that is, XIII, 
XVIII, III, and VIII, of the twenty day signs. To these correspond 
exactly the Chiapanec, Been, Chinax, Votan, Lambat, while in Yuca- 
tan the signs Kan, Muluc, Ix, Cauac— that is, IV, IX, XIV, and XIX 
of the day signs— were used for successive years. The four signs, 
Acatl, Tecpatl, Calli, Tochtli, were registered upon the four arm*s of 
a cross with hooks, in the style shown in figure 2. By following a 
circle in the direction opposite to that in which the hands of a clock 
- move we pass from 1 Acatl past 2 Tecpatl, 3 Calli, 4 Tochtli, to 5 
Acatl, etc. , until we come to 13 Tochtli. As this registration suggests, 
the years recorded on one arm of the cross with hooks were ahvays 
referred to a particular quarter of the heavens; the Acatl vears to the 
east, Tecpatl to the north, Calli to the west, and the Tochtli years to 
the south. Computation within the cycle began in the east with the 
Acatl years, not with 1 Acatl, but, singularly enough, with 2 Acatl, 
so that the cycle closed with 1 Tochtli. The present period of the 
world began, so the Mexicans believed, in the year 1 Tochtli. The 
earth was created in this period, or rather the heavens, which fell at 
the close of the last prehistoric period of the world, were again lifted 
up. Not until this was completed could fire be again produced and 
the first cycle of 52 years be thus begun. This is expresslv stated in 
the Fuenleal codex of the Historia de los Mexicanos por sus Pinturas, 



Selee] 



THE MEXICAN CHRONOLOGY 25 



Therefore 2 Aeatl is the opening 3^ear of the first and of all following- 
cycles. As such it is also designated in all picture manuscripts of 
historical nature by the tire drill. The statement of the interpreter 
of the Codex Telleriano-Remensis, part 4, page 24, on which Orozco y 
Berra lays so much stress, that the beginning of the cycle was first 
changed from 1 Tochtli to 2 Acatl in the year ] 506, under Motecuhzoma, 
on account of the famine which regularly occurred in previous years, 
is merely an attempt to explain the remarkable fact that the cycle 
begins with the numeral 2 in a euhemeristic way. But Clavigero's 
assertion that the cycle began with 1 Tochtli is simply an error. It 
contradicts the accounts of ancient authorities and all that documents 

tell us. 

With what days did the years begin? Duran and Cristobal del 
Castillo say that the year began with Cipactli, the first of the twenty 
signs for the days. And if this is to be accepted as the initial day of 
one year, then the others would begin with Miquiztli, Ozomatli, Cozca- 
quauhtli, VI, XI, and XVI of the signs for the days. This is Clavi- 
gero's theory. He begins the years Tochtli, Acatl, Tecpatl, Calli, 
corresponding with Cipactli, Miquiztli, Ozomatli, Cozcaquauhtli. I, 
myself, formerly believed that the years Acatl, Tecpatl, Calli, Tochtli 
were to be coupled with the days Cipactli, Miquiztli, Ozomatli, and 
Cozcaquauhtli as initial days, relying upon page 12 of the Borgian 
codex which agrees with Codex Vaticanus B, page 28, where we see 
represented by five Tlaloc figures the five cardinal points and their 
significance in the life and housekeeping of men, and among the first 
four of them the signs for the four years coordinated in the above 
manner with the signs of the aforesaid four days. But I have recently 
become puzzled again, since the above-mentioned pages of the manu- 
scripts very readily admit of another explanation. For not only were 
the years of the cycle apportioned among the four cardinal points, but 
so also were the four divisions of the tonalamatl, beginning with 1 
Cipactli. The initial days of the four quarters were plainly designated 
in the Zapotec calendar— which, as we shall see, perhaps represents 
one of the most primitive forms of this chronologic system— as the 
Cocijo or pitao, that is, "the holders of time", "the rain gods", or 
" the great ones", "the gods". In these names we find, then, a direct 
reference to the Tlaloc figures, which we see depicted in the Borgian 
codex, page 12, and Codex Vaticanus B, page 28, as representatives of 
the cardinal points. And the day signs set down under the latter 
signify those very initial days of the tonalamatl divisions and the initial 
years of the cycle divisions which were supposed to be coordinated 
with the cardinal points. 

The wisdom of the Mexican priest chroniclers spent itself in elabo- 
rating the tonalamatl from its arithmetico-theoretic and augural side. 
There is not— aside from a passage in the Maya manuscript, of which 



26 BUEEAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [boll. 28 

I shall speak further on— a single place in the entire mass of picture 
manuscripts belong-ing- to the pre-Spanish time where the successive 
years are enumerated with their initial days. This fact alone should 
make us suspicious in regard to the assertions of Duran and Cristobal 
del Castillo. For Cipactli, the first day of the tonalamatl, and the 
following signs are generally used in the manuscripts somewhat as are 
our numerals 1 to 20. Bishop Landa also states directly of the Maya 
calendar, that the first day of the year and the first day of the tonala- 
matl had absolutely nothing to do with each other. If we take into 
consideration the confusion, which, as I have explained above, pre- 
vailed in Mexico in regard to the beginning of the year, we can not 
avoid the impression that the opening days of the year were also dis- 
placed in the course of time, and thus could not always keep the same 
names. If we once admit this, then the fact that it became necessary 
to call the successive years by the names of the days Acatl, Tecpatl 
Calli, Tochtli, acquires increased meaning. We can not well refuse 
to assume that at the time when and in the place where it first 
occurred to the learned that only four of the twenty signs for the 
days fall upon the initial days of the years, it was just these very days, 
Acatl, Tecpatl, Calli, Tochtli, with which the year then and in that 
place began, or at least, that these days, for whatsoever reasons, then 
and in that place were chosen for the opening days of the year. I 
find an indirect proof that this was indeed the case in the fact that 
ancient accounts from two remote and widely separated localities, from 
Meztitlan, on the boundaries of Huaxteca, and from Nicaragua,' make 
the series of twenty day signs begin with Acatl. In the Dresden 
manuscript the years do not begin with Kan, Muluc, Ix, Cauac, the 
fourth, ninth, fourteenth, and nineteenth day signs, with Avhich, at 
a later period, to judge from Landa and the books of Chilan Balam, 
the Mayas began their years, but with Been, Ezanab, Akbal, and 
Lamat, that is, the thirteenth, eighteenth, third, and eighth signs, 
which answer to the Mexican Acatl, Tecpatl, Calli, TochtliT 

In a paper presented before the International Americanist Congress 
at Berlin E. Forstemann, to whom we owe so many discoveries, espe- 
cially in regard to the mathematics of the Dresden manuscript, fur'nished 
proof that the many high numbers which are to be found, particularly in 
the second part of the Dresden manuscript, take for granted that the day 
4 Ahau (4 XX), the eighth of the month Cumku (the last of the eighteen 
annual festivals), is to be regarded as a zero mark, inasmuch as^ if we 
count on from this day for the number of days which the figure 'stand- 
ing above gives us, we obtain a difi'erent date, which— again exactly 
indicated by numeral and sign and statement of what day of which 
month— is noted beside it. Now Mr Forstemann saw very plainly that 
this zero mark, 4 Ahau, 8 Cumku, with which the other dates in the 
manuscript, with a very few exceptions, agree, clearly can not be 



SELEK] THP] MEXICAN CHRONOLOGY 27 

made to harmonize with Landa's theory of the beginning- of the year. 
He therefore says that 8 Cumku is to be understood as '' the eve of a 
festival", the day which is followed by the eighth day of the month 
Cumku. The ingeniousness of this explanation certainly satisfied Mr 
Forstemann less than anyone. 1 hold that 8 Cumku can not well be 
anything else than the eighth day of the month Cumku. And if a day 
4 Ahau (4 XX) was the eighth day of the month Cumku, then the lirst 
day of that month must be a day 10 Been (10 XIII) and the year must 
also have begun with Been, the thirteenth day sign, the Mexican sign 
Acatl. According to this, therefore, the signs of the first days of the 
years were not the fourth, ninth, fourteenth, nineteenth day signs 
(Kan, Muluc, Ix, Cauac), but the thirteenth, eighteenth, third, eighth 
day signs, Been, Ezanab, Akbal, Lamat, or in Mexican, Acatl, Tecpatl, 
Calli, Tochtli. That this is actually the case in the Dresden manuscript 
is also confirmed elsewhere. 

Not unlike the Mexicans in their custom stated above, the Mayas also 
assigned the successive years of the cycle to the four cardinal points. The 
books of Chilan Balam, a copy of which, prepared by the late lamented 
Doctor Berendt, I had occasion to use in Doctor Brinton's library, unani- 
mously ascribe the Kan years to the east, the Muluc years to the north, 
the Ix years to the west, and the Cauac years to the south. To be 
sure, Landa contradicts this, Still the same relation follows from his 
assertions. For the Kan years, which he assigns to the south, were 
the years in the days preceding w^hich, according to his statements, 
the spirit of evil dominating the Kan years was brought into the vil- 
lage from a southerly direction, and then borne out of the village on 
the eastern side, that is, in the direction probably significant of the new 
year. And so, too, with the other years: V' The Chac-uuayayab of the 
Muluc years is taken out toward the north, the Zac-uuayayab of thelx 
years toward the west, and the Ek-uuayayab of the Cauac years toward 
the south." 

Now, what years and what cardinal points are connected in the manu- 
scripts ? There is no lack of hieroglyphs for the four and the five cardi- 
nal points, respectively, in the manuscripts. We know distinctly that 
a to din figure 1 represent the four cardinal points, and that e to g are 
probably variants of a hieroglyph for the fifth cardinal point, the direc- 
tion upward from below, or downward from above. It was, however, 
still doubtful how a to d, figure 1, are to be referred to the four cardinal 
points. Schultz-Sellack (Zeitschrif t f iir Ethnologic, volume 9, page 221, 
1879) and Leon de Rosny were of the opinion that a to d, respectively, 
denote the east, north, west, and south. Cyrus Thomas, in his Study of 
the Manuscript Troano, exchanges a and e and asserts that the former 
represents the west, the latter the east. In his recent work, published 
in the Third Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, he reverses 
the entire order and states that a to d, figure 1, correspond respectively 



2S 



BUTIEAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



[bull. 28 



to the west, south, east, and north. But the argument which leads 
kim to this assertion is obviousl}^ incorrect. It is true that the Mexi- 
cans generally arranged the sequence of the cardinal points in the 
direction opposite to the course of the hands of a clock, as is shown in 
figure 2. But as for the double page 41 and 42 of the Cortes codex, on 
which Cyrus Thomas rests his assertion, the glyphs of the cardinal 
points a to d there inscribed within the quadrants do not refer, as 



€^^^ 







r^r(R>))\ 



s 
^ 






^(^^)i) j 

m 











Fig. 1. Symbols of the cardinal points, colors, etc. 

Professor Thomas states, to the dates written in the left-hand corner of 
the quadrants (1 Ix, 1 Cauac, 1 Kan, 1 Muluc), but to the whole series 
of days which are denoted in the said quadrants, partly by their glyphs, 
and partly by the dots connecting the glyphs. 

In the quadrant containing the cardinal point of «, figure 1, are 
recorded the days from 1 Imix (1 I) to 13 Chicchan (13 V), that is, the 
whole tirst quarter of the tonalamatl, the days beginning at the innei 
left-hand corner and following one another over the outer left-hand 



selee] 



THE MEXICAN CHRONOLOGY 



29 



corner and the outer right-hand corner as far as the inner right-hand 
corner; and in the same manner in the quadrant following in the 
direction opposite to the course of the hands of a clock, in which the 
cardinal point h, figure 1, is written, are recorded the days which 
form the second quarter of the tonalamatl; and again in the third 
quadrant, which contains the glyph c, figure 1, is the third quarter; 
and in the last quadrant, with the glyph d, figure 1, the last quarter 
of the tonalamatl. Since we know that the four quarters of the 
tonalamatl, beginning with 1 I. 1 VI. 1 XI, and 1 XVI, were respec- 




Fig. 2. Mexican calendar wheel form. 

tively ascribed to the east, north, west, and south, this double page 
from the Cortes codex is the strongest proof that Schultz-Sellack and 
Leon de Eosny were right in referring the hieroglyphs a to d, figure 1, 
respectively to the east, north, west, and south. 

In a and c, figure 1, is contained, in their lower half, an element which 
is contained in the month name Yaxkin {k and /, figure 1) and undoubt- 
edly denotes the sun (kin), the disk sending out rays of light to the 
four cardinal points. In h and I this element is combined with 
another, which also occurs in the glyph of the month name Tax 



30 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 



(i, same fig-ure), and which, as comparison with other glyphs shows, 
denotes "green tree" (yax). In «, figure 1, the element kin is 
combined with the glyph of the twentieth day sign, which is in 
Maya called Ahau. Ahau, abbreviated ah, means "the lord", "the 
king". The word is connected with a verb ah, which means "to rise 
up", ^'to awake", "to rise"; ahal-ik, "the wind rises"; ahal-cab, 
"the world wakes" (the day breaks); ahi cab, "from the beginning 
of the world". This glyph should therefore be read ahal-kin, ''the 
sun rises," and this is equivalent to likin, the true Maya expression 
for the cardinal point of the east. 

In c, figure 1, on the other hand, the element kin is combined with 
another, which serves as the glyph of the seventh day sign, in Maya 
called Manik, which corresponds to the Mexican mazatl, "deer". 
The element represents a hand with the four fingers curved toward 
the thumb. I have already explained this in my essay on the Character 
of the Aztec and Maya manuscripts (Zeitschrift flir Ethnologic, volume 
20, page 65), but at that time I was uncertain as to its true signifi- 
cance. It is sign language for "to eat". When we traveled in 
Huaxteca, a district inhabited in old times and down to the present 
day by a nation whose language shows them to be nearly akin to the 
Mayas of Yucatan, the invitation to eat, Vamos a comer, was invari- 
ably accompanied by a gesture in which the hand, bent in the style of 
the glyph Manik, was repeatedly carried to the mouth. This symbol 
was taken as the glyph for Manik, "deer", because the deer was 
regarded as "meat" Kar i^oxvv^ "that which is eaten". In Maya 
"to bite", "to eat", and "to be bitten", "to be eaten", is chi. The 
glyph G would accordingly be read chikin, and this is well known to 
be the Maya word for the cardinal point west. 

The other two glyphs of the cardinal points, h and <7, figure 1, are 
not phonetically constructed. In d we have the same element that 
we have already seen in i, k, and I, the glyphs Yax and Yaxkin, and 
which, as I stated, denote "tree". We see it here surrounded by 
figures which are to be explained as smoke or fire. Therefore d, 
figure 1, must be the region of fire, the south. Glyph J shows us a 
head and a jaw, the two not infrequently combined as if the head were 
being drawn into the jaw {i and k, figure 3). Occasionally an eye, 
looking toward the head, occurs as a variant of the jaw (see /, figure 3, 
in the manuscript Troano codex, page 24*tf). Finally, the hieroglyph 
m, figure 3, occurs (manuscript Troano codex, page 20*^^) for the 
hieroglyph h, figure 1; instead of the head drawn into the jaw we 
have a head held or lifted up by an open hand. The symbolism is 
clear. It is the live devouring earth mouth, the underworld, which, 
as we know, was located by the Mexicans in the north. In Aztec the 
north is called mictlanipa ("the direction of the realm of the dead''). 
Analysis of the hieroglyphs thus leads to the same result as that 



seler] 



THE MEXICAISr CHROTSTOLOGY 31 



which our study of the Cortes codex, pages il, 42, suo-o-ested, that 
the hieroglyphs a to rf, figure 1, are indeed to be coordinated in the way 
already stated by Schultz-Sellack— that is, that a to (^, respectively, 
denote the east, north, west, and south. 

Here we do indeed encounter a difficulty which must be overcome 
before we can with any confidence profit by the knowledge thus far 
acquired. Schellhas has already (Zeitschrif t f iir Ethnologic, volume 18, 
page 77) drawn attention to the hieroglyphic elements t to w, figure 1, 
which are coordinated with the cardinal points in such a way that, 
according to the cardinal point, they form the variable constituent of 
a hieroglyph otherwise similarly constituted. Thus, in the Dresden 
manuscript, pages 305 and 2,1b and pages 29c and 30c, the hieroglyphs 
n to q, figure 1, are invariably combined with one of the hieroglyphs 
of the four cardinal points. And so, too, on pages SOc and 31c we see 
the same elements of t to v) (always changing with the cardinal points) 
forming part of another hieroglyph otherwise not clear. Finally, the 
same elements are (Dresden manuscript, pages 31?> to 315) added to 
the principal glyph of Chac itself and combined with the same cardinal 
points. I have already suggested in my earlier work (Zeitschrift fiir 
Ethnologic, volume 20, page 1) that these hieroglyphic elements chang- 
ing with the cardinal points are meant to denote colors. We know 
that the Mexicans, like the Mayas and many other American nations, 
ascribed certain colors to the cardinal points, and that the objects or 
beings whose various forms were supposed to reside at the diflterent 
cardinal points were distinguished by the color appropriate to the 
cardinal point in question. 

Thus in Landa, in speaking of the xma kaba kin ceremonies, accord- 
ing to the year— that is, according to the respective cardinal point— 
a yellow, red, white, and black Bacab, a yellow, red, white, and 
black Uuayayab, a yellow, red, white, and black Acantun is men- 
tioned. But if this be the case, then the element of w, figure 1, must 
denote the color ek, "black". For in both the above-mentioned 
passages of the Dresden manuscript the rain god (Chac) is repre- 
sented in black color below the glyph provided with this element 
(while he is left white elsewhere). The element y (same figure), on 
the contrary, is most probably to be described as expressing the color 
zac, "white", for it forms the characteristic element in the glyph 
of the month name Zac, h. The element u may be taken to express 
chac, "red", for it forms the characteristic element in the glyph of 
a goddess, m, a companion of Chac, who is represented in the Dresden 
codex, pages 67« and 71, in red color and with tiger claws. Finally, 
the glyph t (same figure), seems as if it must be intended for kan, 
"yellow". This is proved by the similarity of the element to the 
fio-ures by which gold, the yellow metal, is represented in Mexican 



32 BUREAU OF AMERICAlSr ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

glyphs; also by the fact that, in conjunction with the element "tree", 
it is used to denote honey and honey wine {n and c», figure 3), and 
that it appears vicariously for kin, "sun", and is sometimes replaced 
by the hieroglyphic expression for the latter. According to this, 
indeed, we should have the four colors, yellow, red, white, and black, 
in t to vj, figure 1, and in the same order of succession as they are 
given by Landa for the four cardinal points. 

But these elements, which I call kan, chac, zac, and ek, are not, in the 
above-mentioned passages, as we should suppose, assigned to the east, 
north, west, and south, but, in the same way as Landa — though, as 
we must assume, incorrectly— refers the variously colored Bacabs and 
their years to the cardinal points, they are assigned to the south, east, 
north, and west. I must confess that this fact disturbed me for a long 
time, until it gradually became clear to me that in this instance other 
ideas were decisive in referring the rain god, Chac, to the cardinal points, 
and hence other colors were necessarily chosen to express that refer- 
ence than those chosen for the Bacabs prevailing in the different years. 
Wherever the Bacabs themselves and the different years and the cere- 
monies performed before the beginning thereof are represented in the 
Dresden manuscript, especially on the familiar pages 25 to 28, there the 
elements of figures t to w are not coordinated with d, a, 5, c, but with 
a, 1), c, d (figure 1)— that is, actually with the east, north, west, and south. 
This can not, indeed, be noted on all four pages, the upper parts of 25 and 
27 being unfortunately too far destroyed. But we can still see that 
on all four pages in a certain place on the upper part there was a per- 
vading hieroglyph, which contained the elements of t to lo as a varia- 
ble constituent part. The same is retained on two pages, 26 and 28 
(see r and s, figure 1), and there we actually see that the elements of u 
and ^0— that is, as I assume, red (chac) and black (ek)— are allotted to 
the north and south. That yellow (kan, f) and white (zac, y) are also 
correspondingly arranged is, I think, as good as certain. And these 
assumptions are confirmed by corresponding passages in the Troano 
codex. There the various Chacs are represented, pages 30 and 29J, 
beginning with that of the west, c. And the elements ek, kan, chac, 
zac answer to the directions of c, d, a, I. On pages 31 and 30^, on 
the contrary, the various Bacabs are represented, beginning witTi that of 
the east (chac and hobnil). And here, as comparison with the Cortes 
codex, pages 41 and 42, show the elements kan, ek, zac, chac correspond 
to the directions of «, d, c, 5— that is, east, south, west, north. Thus, 
that which I think 1 have discovered in regard to color nomenclature 
agrees with the old Schultz-Sellack idea that a to d represent hiero- 
glyphically the cardinal points— east, north, west, south, or likin, 
xaman, chikin, nohol. 

Now if we turn with this, as 1 believe, certain knowledge to pages 
25 to 28 of the Dresden manuscript, on which the various yea'.-3 are rep " 



SELERl THE MEXICAN CHRONOLOGY 33 

resented and the ceremonies performed before the beginnino- of them, 
in the xma kaba kin, I have still another exception to make. There 
is an error in these pages. In the lowest row of hieroglyphs, the very 
one which contains the hieroglyphs of the various cardinal points, 
north and south, xaman and nohol, d and J, are transposed. It is obvi- 
ous that this is an error. Nowhere else in this manuscript do we find 
the order of succession c/, rf, c, h. Only in the carelessly drawn Codex 
Troano-Cortes do we meet with a couple of inversions of the true order. 
So we find in Troano codex, page 36, where, however, there seems also 
to be an error, for the series goes on afterwards in the proper direction. 
And so, too, in Troano codex, pages 30 and 31, we have a reversal of the 
order, as the succession of the colors kan, ek, zac, and chac shows. But 
these are exceptions. As a general thing the order of succession of the 
3^ears follows the correct order also in the Troano codex. If we make 
these corrections in pages 25 to 28 of the Dresden manuscript, we have 
on these pages, as is fit, beginning with the east, the years answering to 
the east, north, west, and south — that is, therefore, according to the 
books of Chilan-Balam, the Kan, Muluc, Ix, Cauac years. But we 
look in vain for the signs for these years on those pages. On the front 
of those pages, on the other hand, two successive day signs are repeated 
thirteen times, which can hardly be anything but the last day of the 
old and the first day of the new year. " We have on i^age 25 Eb (XII) 
and Been (XIII); on page 26, Caban (XVII) and Ezanab (XVIII); on 
page 27, Ik (II) and Akbal (III), and on page 28, Manik (VII) and Lamat 
(VIII). It therefore follows, according to the Dresden manuscript, 
that the years corresponding to the east, north, west, and south — that 
is, the later Kan, Muluc, Ix, and Cauac years — must have begun with 
the days Been, Ezanab, Akbal, and Lamat; that is, with the Mexican 
characters Acatl, Tecpatl, Calli, and Tochtli. This is precisely what 
we learn from the date 4 Ahau, 8 Cumku, and the other dates com- 
bined from figures, signs, and statements in regard to months. 

In one of mj^ first works, in which I stated the result of my Maya 
studies (Zeitschrift fiir Ethnologic, volume 19, Verhandlungen, pages 
224 to 231), I attempted to identify the deities represented on pages 
25 to 28 of the Dresden manuscript with the deities mentioned by 
Landa in connection with the Xma kaba kin ceremonies. I think my 
inferences at that time Avere perfectly correct. But because I did not 
read the hieroglyphs of the cardinal points aright, and because I had 
no knowledge of the circumstance set forth above, namely, that the 
Kan, Muluc, Ix, and Cauac years begin with the days Been, Ezanab, 
Akbal, and Lamat, I was forced to make the somewhat bold conjecture 
that the names given by Landa were probably to be applied to the fig- 
ures in the Dresden manuscript, but not in the order Kan, Muluc, Ix, 
and Cauac, as Landa reckoned the years, but in the order Ix, Cauac, 
Kan, and Muluc, as they appear in the Dresden manuscript. This 
7238— No. 28—05^—3 



34 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



[bull. 28 



conjecture is now wholly superfluous. The Dresden manuscript does, 
indeed, reckon the 3^ears precisely as Landa does, that is, beginning 
with the east, but the years which Landa designates by the dominical 
letters, Kan, Muluc, Ix, Cauac, are here specified b}^ the initial 
days Been, Ezanab, Akbal, and Lamat. The chief figure on the first 
page is a god with a remarkable branching nose, whose principal 
hieroglyph is «, figure 3, a hieroglyph which otherwise serves to 
designate the lightning animal, the heavenly dog darting from the 
clouds. Instead of the latter, t^(same figure), that is, the head of Chac, 
appears as the principal hieroglyph in the Dresden codex, page 3. 
It is therefore obvious that this god is a god of rain and thunder. 
Landa mentions in the Kan year Bolon Zacab, a name which is not 




Fig. 3. Symbols from the Maya codices. 

known elsewhere. But he also states, and that only of the Kan years, 
that they are said to be rich in rain. 

On the second page (26) of the Dresden manuscript the chief figure 
is a god who has the sign kin written on his eyebrow, and whose 
chief hieroglyph, h, figure 3, likewise contains the sign kin. This 
agrees with Landa's statement, who, in the Muluc years, mentions 
Kinchahau, the "Lord with the sun face". On the third page the 
old god is represented, whose chief hieroglyph is c, figure 3. This 
again agrees with Landa, who mentions the god Itzamna in the Ix 
years. And on the last page (28) of the Dresden manuscript a death 
god is designated by the hieroglyph d, the face with gaping jaws; 
elsewhere written also in the form of glyph h. This, too, agrees with 
Landa, who calls the Uac mitun ahau of the Cauac years "Lord of 
six hells". I can not go into further details concerning these deities 



SELERj THE MEXICAN CHRONOLOGY 35 

here, and refer the reader to my work quoted above. The two glyphs, 
which I have given in the plate accompanying this work {f and </, 
figure 3), are characteristic companion gl3'phs,/'of Kinchahau and c/ 
of Itzamna. The former gives the idea of clouds or heaven, lightning, 
and fire; the latter may be translated as Ahtok, "Lord of the stone 
knife". 

Now, how are we to understand this difference between the Dresden 
manuscript and Landa's assertions in regard to the first day of the 
year? Are we to assume that Landa was mistaken in making the 
Kan, Muluc, Ix, and Cauac years begin also with the days Kan, 
Muluc, Ix, and Cauac? Or shall we assvmie that at some particular 
period later than that of the composition of the Dresden manuscript a 
correction was made, in consequence of which the first da3^s of the 
years ascribed to the east, north, west, and south no longer fell upon 
the signs Been, Ezanab, Akbal, and Lamat, but on the signs Kan, 
Muluc, Ix, and Cauac? I incline to the latter view, and remark that 
according to this the Troano and Cortes codices, which are only the two 
halves of one and the same codex, would belong to the later period. 
For on pages ii3 to 20 of the Troano codex, whose meaning corresponds 
with that of pages 25 to 28 of the Dresden manuscript, on the front of 
the pages, not the initial da^^s Been, Ezanab, Akbal, and Lamat, but 
likewise, thirteen times rej^eated, the da3^s Cauac, Kan, Muluc, and Ix 
are found. 

In spite of this variability of the beginning of the j^ear the Maj^a 
races obtained a fixed chronology by reckoning, not the years, but the 
da^^s, from a zero point. Thus the tonalamatl reckoning afforded a 
firm basis, which prevented any error. 

Among the Cakchikels the zero point was furnished b}^ a particu- 
lar historic event, the destruction of the seditious race of the Tukuchee, 
which occurred on the day 11 Ah (11 XIII). By counting from this 
zero vigesimall}^ — that is, by 20x20 da3^s — they obtained periods 
which all began with the day Ah (XIII, or the Mexican Acatl), which 
successive!}^ took the numbers 11, 8, 5. 2, 12, 9, 6, 3, 13, 10, 7, 4, 1, 
and then again 11. Such a period was called a huna, and twenty 
such periods a may (see my communication in the Zeitschrift fiir Eth- 
nologic, volume 21, Verhandlungen, page -ITS). 

Among'the Mayas the starting point was undoubtedly the zero point 
4 Ahau 8 Cumku pointed out in the Dresden manuscript by Forste- 
mann— that is, a day which bore the numeral 1 and the sign Ahau (XX, 
or the Mexican Xochitl), and was the 8th of the month Cumku, the 
last of the eighteen months of the year. But from this zero point the 
reckoning was not consistentl}^ vigesimal, but, as also follows from the 
computation in the Dresden manuscript set fortli l)y Forstemann, by 
periods of 20x360 daj's. These periods, since their number is divis- 
ible by 2(), had alwaj^s to take the same sign Ahau (XX, or the Mexi- 



36 BUEEAU OF AMEEICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

can Xochitl). But as the figure 13 only goes into 7,200 with a remain- 
der of 11, the figure of the first day of the period had to be two less 
than that of the first day of the previous period. In a word, the 
initial days of the successive periods of 7,200 days are 4 Ahau, 2 Ahau, 
13 Ahau, 11 Ahau, 9 Ahau, 7 Ahau, 5 Ahau, 3 Ahau, 1 Ahau, 12 
Ahau, 10 Ahau, 8 Ahau, 6 Ahau, and then again -1 Ahau. Such a 
period was called katun. It is still an open question upon what circum- 
stances it depended that just such a period of 20 X 360 days was chosen. 
But, at any rate, this is the true length of the so-called ahau katun 
periods, whose computation is clearly stated in the Dresden manu- 
script, but whose meaning has been very much misunderstood even 
down to the present time. 

In later times, when the connection with old traditions, if it had not 
entirely disappeared, had yet been impaired in many ways, the katun 
was taken, not as 20 X 360 days, but as 20 j^ears. And thence it became 
evident that the periods could not begin in the way indicated, with 
4 Ahau, 2 Ahau, 13 Ahau, etc., for the number 13 goes into 7,300 with 
a remainder of 7. Hence the initial days of the successive periods of 
20 years (reckoning 365 days to a year) must by turns begin with 
4 Ahau, 11 Ahau, 5 Ahau, etc. In order to meet this difficulty the 
theory was evolved that the katun consisted, not of 20 years, but of 24 
years, for 24x365, or 8,760, is also divisible by 20, and the number 13 
goes into it with a remainder of 11, as it does into the true katun, the 
period of 20 X 360 days. And hence arose the dispute, in which much 
ink and paper have been wasted, as to whether the katun consisted of 
20 or 24 years. As a fact, it contained neither 20 nor 24 jenvs (the 
old chroniclers did not take years directly into their calculation), but 
it contained 20 X 360 days. 

Now that the relation of the tonalamatl to the other chronolog}^ has 
been- made clear, I will once more turn back to the tonalamatl itself. 
In my work on the character of the Aztec and Maya manuscripts 
(Zeitschrift fiir Ethnologic, volume 10, page 1 etseq.) I tried to prove 
that even the apparently quite dissimilar and differently named 20 
day signs of the Mayas could be brought into conformity with the 
linguistically and hieroglyphically distinct signs of the Mexicans. 
But I then overlooked one calendar, because it was not then acces- 
sible, or at least not intelligible, to me, namely, the Zapotec, which 
is recorded in the grannnar of Father Juan de Cordova, which was— 
unfortunately, as it seems, very incorrectly and inexactl}^— republished 
a few 3^ears ago by Doctor Leon. 

I have already mentioned that the Zapotec calendar is of an extremely 
ancient type. This is shown on the one hand by the ancient form of 
the words, which are hardly explicable by the language spoken at 
present or that recorded soon after the Conquest; also by the fact 
that the relation of the signs to the thirteen fip-ures has become to 



8ELEE] THE MEXICAN CHEONOLOGY 37 

some extent incrusted upon the form of the words used to denote the 
days. We can therefore detach a prefix from all of the names of the 
word, which is very nearly the same for all the signs connected with 
the same number. There are a few exceptions, which were perhaps 
due to an oversight or an erroneous conception on the part of the 
deserving- monk who preserved this calendar for us or possibly are 
merely to be ascribed to the careless reprint. We have the following 
prefixes in the words combined with the various numbers: 

1 chaga, or tobi, the prefix quia, quie. 

2 cato, or topa, the prefix pe, pi, pela. 

3 cayo, or chona, the prefix peo, peola. 

4 taa, or tapa, the prefix cala. 

5 caayo, or gaayo, the prefix pe, pela. 

6 xopa, the prefix qua, quala. 

7 caache, tlie prefix pilla. 

8 xona, the prefix ne, ni, nela. 

9 caa, or gaa, the prefix pe, pi, pela. 

10 chij, the prefix pilla. 

11 chijbitobi, the prefix ne, ni, nela.« 

12 chijbitopa, or chijbicato, the prefix pina, pifio, pinij. 

13 chijno, the prefix pece, pici, quid. 

Yet onl}^ a few of these various prefixes seem to contain any distinct 
meaning. Primarily the prefix quia, quie, which belongs to the signs 
connected with the number 1, which, as we know, took a special posi- 
tion, was regarded as the ruler of the whole following thirteen. Juan 
de Cordova says that these units of thirteen or their initial days were 
called cocij, tobi coci], como decimos nosotros, un mes, un tiempo ("as 
we say, a month, a time"). But the four signs which preside over 
the first, sixth, eleventh, sixteenth 13 day periods, that is, the four 
divisions of the tonalamatl, were called cocijo, or pitao, that is, "the 
great". They were regarded as gods and were honored with sacrifices 
and bloodletting. Indeed, we find in the dictionary, for instance, 
tiempo encogido, en que no se puede trabajar ("special time in which 
no man can work")— cocij cogaa; tiempo de mieses, frutas 6 de siego 
6 de algo ("season of harvests, fruits, or grain")— cocij collapa, cocij 
layna, cocij; tiempo enfermo 6 de pestilencia ("sickly season, time of 
pestilence") — coo yoocho, piye yoocho, cocij yoocho. But the original 
meaning of cocij can hardly have been "time". The prefix co denotes 
a nomen agentis, and in a certain way corresponds to the Mexican 
prefix tla. Cocii means " when we have taken", hence something like 
the Mexican tlapoualli, and, like that, it denotes a unit of 20 days; 
cocii, "20 days in the past"— that is, 20 days ago to-day; huecii or 
cacii, "20 days in the future", or "in 20 days"; cacii-cacii, "every 20 
days". If, therefore, the Father be correct in his statement, the appli- 
cation of the word cocii to a unit of thirteen days can only have been 

a This is the most common prefix, although the exceptions here are more frequent, aud the confu- 
sion particularly great. 



38 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHISTOLOGY [bull. 28 

a transferred or an incorrect one. Cocijo, on the contrar}^, is in the 
dictionary translated by dios de las lluvias ("god of the rains"), and 
by rayo; totia peni quij cocijo by sacrificar hombre 6 nino por la 
pluvia ("to sacrifice a man or a child for rain"); tace cocijo, by caer 
rayo del cielo. In other words, cocijo is the rain god Tlaloc, who 
has his place here in the tonalamatl because the four divisions of the 
tonalamatl belong to the four cardinal points, and the rain god is at 
home in the four cardinal points and differs according to the respective 
cardinal point, as is plainly shown on the above-mentioned pages of the 
Borgian codex, page 12, and the Codex Vaticanus B, page 28. If we 
now inquire what the prefix quia, quie, might mean in speech, we find 
"to strike", "stone", "rain", "crime or punishment", "to color", 
"flower"; the first four, however, are to be distinguished from the 
latter by special pronunciations of the i. If we substitute for "rain" 
"thunderstorm", which is usually about the same thing in these 
regions, then the first four meanings are readily evolved, one from 
the other, and if we take this as the meaning of the prefix quia, quie, 
we must translate quia-chilla, for instance, as "the crocodile Tlaloc", 
the Tlaloc who bears the crocodile as his sign, or ce Cipactli (1 I). 

Of the other prefixes only the last two seem to have any special 
meaning, which perhaps proceeds from the special augural value of the 
numerals 12 and 13. Piici means "the omen ", usually, it is true, the 
evil omen. Pino might be a secondary form of chino, for p and ch 
frequently stand one for the other in Zapotec word forms. Chino, 
chijnno means "full", "luck", "blessing", "riches", "thirteen", 
"fifteen". But these are all meanings which can hardly be brought 
into relation with the numeral 12, to which the prefix piiio refers. The 
other prefixes seem to be only variations of the well-known prefixes 
pe, pi, CO, hua, by which people in action and living beings are desig- 
nated. The syllable la is demonstrative. 

If we set aside these prefixes, changing with the numeral attached 
to them, we obtain the word chilla or chijlla for the first day sign. I 
find the three principal meanings for this in the dictionary to be: first, 
" bean dice", pichijlla, frisolillos 6 havas con que echan las suertes los 
sortilegos ("beans with which sorcerers tell fortunes/'); then, "a 
mountain ridge", pichijlla, lechijlla, chijllatani, loma 6 cordillera de 
sierra; also, "the crocodile'', peho pichijlla, pichijlla-peoo, peyoo, 
cocodrillo, lagarto gi ande de agua, (' ' crocodile, great water lizard "j and 
"swordfish", pella-pichijlla-tao espadarte pescado; finally, chilla- 
tao ("the great chilla"), is also given as one of the names of the 
highest being. Here the meaning "crocodile" seems to me to be the 
original and suitable one. For the way in which the first day sign is 
drawn in Mexican and Zapotec picture writings, as a, figure 4, obviously 
indicates the head of the crocodile, with the upper jaw moving inde- 
pendently, opening upward, which is a characteristic feature of this 



seleb] 



THE MEXICAN CHRONOLOGY 



39 



creature. The interpretations of Sahagun and Duran for eipactli, 
" swordtish " and "snake's head", are therefore to be rejected, although 
the former is certainly contained in the Zapotec word. The Indians 
of the hig-h valleys of Mexico, the informants of both those histo- 
rians, were not familiar with the original of the true eipactli, either 
from personal observation or through reliable traditions. The other 
meanings, "mountain range", " range of peaks", and again, "sword- 






^ 




Fig. 4. Day signs and related glyphs from the codices. 

fish", are easily derivable from the first meaning " crocodile". But it 
is more difficult to find any transition to the meaning "lot beans". 
Yet one does, I think, exist. The tonalamatl beginning with eipactli 
was the epitome of all augural skill. It is not too bold io accept the 
theory that the name was therefore transferred also to the tool of 
the augurs, the bean, which the soothsayers employed in conjunction 
with the tonalamatl. Among the Mayas, the lot bean was called am. 
During the festival in the month Zip magicians and physicians had 



4^ BUREAU OF AMERICAIS^ ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

this painted blue, that is, consecrated. Now, it does not seem to me 
improbable that the words imix, imox, by which the Mayas and the 
Tzental-Zotzil called the first day sign, should be connected with this 
word am. I should even like to trace the Mexican word amoxtli, 
"book", otherwise very hard to be explained etymologically, back 
to these Maya roots. The Maya hieroglyph Imix {h, figure 4) is very 
frequently associated with the hieroglyph Kan, and we often see this 
group among the gifts offered to the gods, as at c. It may perhaps 
signify "beans and corn". 

With the second day sign, not one, but two different words remain 
after the removal of the prefix— the two words qui] and laa, which 
both, however, mean the same thing, not "wind", as we might 
suppose from the Mexican second day sign, Ehecatl, but "glow" or 
"fire". This is an exceptionally noteworthy fact, for it explains the 
part which we see the second day sign play in the Maya manuscript. 
In Maya and kindred languages the second day sign invariably bears 
the name Ik, properly speaking i'k, that is, "wind". But wherever 
it occurs in pictures or hieroglyphs it gives the idea of flame or fire. 
So it does in d^ figure tt, from the Dresden codex, page 26, where we see 
it in the center of the flame flashing up from the fire vessel; in e, figure 
4, where it is borne on a staff; and in the hieroglyph of the sun god, 
J, figure 3, which is composed of the picture of the sun, an element 
which signifies "winged", the sign Been, which signifies the woven 
mat and the woven straw roof, and the sign Ik, which in this combi- 
nation can only signify the fire applied to the roof. In Cogolludo, 
the word Kakupacat, "fiery glance", is given as the name o1 a god 
of war and of battle, and it is said of him: Fingian que traia en las 
batallas una rodela de f uego, con que se abroquelaba (" He was supposed 
to carry a wheel of fire in battle, with which he defended himself"). 
Now, in the Troano codex, page 24, and in the Dresden codex, page 69, 
the black Ohac is represented with spear and shield, and the latter ( /J 
figure 4) has the sign Ik upon its surface. No doubt this is the fiery 
shield, and the black Chac is Kakupacat, related to Cit-chac-coh, in whose 
honor warriors danced the war dance (holcan okot) in the month Pax. 
This union of wind and fire, which thus presents itself in the Zapotec 
name and the Maya image of the second dav sign, is also probably 
the best explanation of the dual nature which seems to belohg to the 
wind god Quetzalcoatl, who now appears simply as a wind god, and 
again seems to show the true characteristics of the old god of^'fire and 
light. 

In the third day sign, after removing the prefixes that vary with the 
numeral attached, we obtain the forms guela, ela, and ala or laala. 
Here guela and ela are well-known, much-used words for "night"; 
queelaorgueela, "night"; te-ela," by night"; te-chij te-ela, " by day 
and by night"; xilo-ela c51o-ela, "midnight". The form ala or laala 



seler] the MEXICAN CHRONOLOGY 41 

seems to have been no longer in use when Juan de C^ordova took up 
the language. We shall also find further on that the vowel a is 
preferred to the later e in the names of the day signs. In calling 
the third day sign by the name of the night, "the dark house of the 
earth", varying from the Aztec calli, "house", the Zapotec calendar 
agrees with that of the various branches of the Maya family. 

In the fourth day sign we obtain, after removing the prefix, the 
forms gueche, quiche, ache, achi, ichi. The sign corresponds with the 
Mexican Cuetzpalin, "lizard". Picture writings show us a lizard-like 
animal with a tail, usually painted blue, and translators state that the 
sign signifies "abundance of water". Now it is really hard to under- 
stand why the lizard, which is usually found on stones and walls 
heated by the sun, should be taken as the symbol of abundant water. 
The Zapotec word forms seem to solve this difiiculty, for they are to 
be translated by "frog" or "toad". The dictionary gives peche, 
peeche, beeche: todo genero de rana 6 sapo. Here pe onl}^ occurs 
as a prefix, which we find in almost all animal names in the form pe 
or pi. And that eche is equivalent to the ache, achi, ichi of the 
calendar is proved by comparison with the fourteenth day sign, where 
are found the same forms, gueche, ache, eche, used for the jaguar, which 
is described in the dictionary as peche-tao, "the great peche". But, 
just as in the first day sign the Zapotec word suggested to us a pos- 
sibility of harmonizing the apparently incongruous Mexican and Maya 
glyphs and their designations, so here in the fourth day sign this 
seems also to be the case. Peche in Zapotec means literally maize 
kernel, not the simple ripe kernel, but the kernel roasted and, in con- 
sequence of the roasting, popped. We know that these grains of corn, 
which the Mexicans called momochtli, played a great part in olferings 
to the gods. It is even stated every time how many such grains of 
corn were used for the drink which was ofi'ered to the procession of par- 
ticipating priests and chieftains in Yucatan during the xma kaba kin 
ceremonies. The Maya name for the fourth day sign is Kan, which 
probably goes back to kan or kanan, cosa abundante 6 preciosa ("an 
abundant or precious thing"). I have given the most characteristic 
forms of the hieroglvph in c, </, and A, figure 4. They contain in the 
upper portion either the teeth (as on the mouth of the vessel in c, figure 
4, and in the glyphs of d, A, /, and A, figure 3, and J, figure 1, pages 30 
and 36) or the eye, both of which, as I have already explained above in 
regard to the hieroglyphs of Z*, figure 1, and /, k^ and /, figure 3, convey 
the idea of the opening of the chasm. In the lower part of the Kan 
hieroglyphs, below the waving diagonal line, we have also a pair of 
teeth, which, like the teeth in the upper part, are left white if the 
hieroglyph is done in colors. The}^ are also most naturally to be con- 
ceived of as indicating a chasm. If we add to this that the hieroglyph 
when it is colored is invariably painted yellow, that is, the color of the 



42 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

outside of the kernel of corn, we must admit that tlie hieroglj^ph Kan 
does indeed correspond to the ideas which the popped corn suggests. 
And, indeed, the part which the hieroglyph plays in the pictures of the 
Maya manuscripts is of such a nature that all authors have hitherto 
spontaneously agreed in explaining the glj^ph Kan as "maize.'"' I 
myself formerlj^ took the corncob, which we sometimes see represented 
with teeth and e3'es, to be Kan, because I did not think of popped corn; 
but I can now let this explanation drop, because the word peche and 
the ideas connected with it afford a satisfactory solution of the peculiar 
characteristics of the hieroglyph. 

For the fifth da}^ sign the Zapotec calendar gives the roots zee, 
zij, which, again, are not, as we might suppose from the Aztec name 
for the fifth day sign (Coatl), to be translated "snake" (snake in 
Zapotec is pella or bela), but which seem to mean something abstract, 
namely, "misfortune", "evil", "trouble", "misery". In one place 
in the calendar, and that precisely in the first 13-day period, the 
word ciguij is used instead of zee, zii; and that means "deceiver", 
"layer of snares, who brings one into trouble". If we consider these 
variants, we can, as I believe, ascribe a more pregnant meaning to zii, 
one that is contained in the word pijci (pijze, peezi), undoubtedly 
derived from this root, which is, " harmful portent". Thus we arrive 
by a roundabout way at the same conception which the Aztec name 
for the fifth day sign suggests to us, namely, the word " snake". For 
it was this that the Zapotecs held to be the first and most serious of 
all evil portents: Tenian estos Zapotecas muchas cosas por agiieros, 
a las quales si encontraban 6 venian a sus casas 6 junto a ellas, se tenian 
por agorados dellas. El primero j mas principal era la culebra, que 
se llama pella, y como ay muc^has maneras dellas, de la manera que era 
ella, assi era el agiiero, esto deslindava el sortilegio ("These Zapo- 
tecs held many things to l)e omens, and if they met these things or if 
these things entered or approached their homes they held it to be an 
evil omen — that they would bring them misfortune. The first and 
chief was the viper, which is called pella, and as there are many sorts 
of them, according to the sort, so was the omen; this outlined the 
enchantment"). (Juan de Cordova, Arte, page 214, lSS<i.) In my 
paper on the character of the Aztec and Maya manuscripts (Zeit- 
schrift fiir Ethnologic, volume 20, page 61) I show that the Maya 
glyph for the fifth day sign (/, figure 4) is derived from certain pecu- 
liarities of the snake and undoubtedly denotes the snake. But the 
meaning of the word bv which the Mayas designated that day, namel}^, 
Chicchan, was not (juite clear to me. I have now no doubt that it means 
chic-chaan, that is, tomado sefial, toinado aguero ("signal-bearer, 
portent- hearer"). 

For the sixth day sign the Zapotec calendar gives the word form 
lana or laana. Of the various meanings which the dictionary sug- 
gests for this root the one which I should think the most natural, if 



SELEE] THE MEXICAN CHRONOLOGY 43 

there were no other points of comparison to be considered, would l^o 
"the hare'' (pela-pillaana, liebre animal; too-quixe-pillaana, sen pella 
pillaana, red para liebres, " net for hares"), the more so since we have 
already encountered frogs and snakes, and in the list of day signs 3^et 
to come are to meet with the deer and rabbit, and, as Juan de Cordova 
expresslj^ sa3^s in his remarks on the calendar: Y para cada treze dias 
destos tenian aplicada una figura de animal, s. aguila, mono, culebra, 
lagarto, uenado, liebre ("And to every thirteen days the figure of an 
animal was assigned — eagle, monkey, snake, lizard, deer, hare"). But 
in opposition to this is the fact that both in the Mexican calendar 
and in that of the Maya races we find the picture of death in this 
place, and that, except only among the Tzental-Zotzil, this day sign 
is also designated b}^ the name of "death." Since in the other signs 
we invariably find some direct or indirect agreement among these 
three calendars, we must look about to see whether we can not 
find some transition in the case of this sign also from the word 
given in the Zapotec calendar to the meaning given in the other 
calendars. We might first consider that pillaana, "hare", is invari- 
abl}^ associated in the dictionary with pela, "flesh", something as 
when we speak of the hare as "game"; and that lana is also "fresh, 
raw meat"; hualana nalana, cosa que hiede a carne 6 carnaza ("a thing 
which smells like flesh or hide"); tillaa nalana, heder algo ji carnaza 
("anything to smell like hide"). We might therefore think of the 
freshly killed game. But lana also means "veiled", "concealed", 
"dark", "secret". And I believe we should take this meaning here, 
the more so as from this meaning the remarkable name Tox, which the 
sixth day sign bears in the Tzental-Zotzil calendar, seems to find an 
explanation. 1 have already, in my earlier work, connected this name 
with Coslahun tox, mentioned by Bishop Nuiiez de la Vega among 
the Tzental-Zotzil: El demonio segun los Indios dicen con trece potes- 
tades le tienen pintado en silla y con astas en la cabeza como de car- 
nero ("The demon, whom the Indians say has thirteen powers; they 
paint him seated and with horns on his head like a ram"). But I had 
not then the true conception of this demon. 

Coslahun tox is undoubtedly Oxlahun-tox, and this in Maj^a would 
be Oxlahun tax, as the Maya month Mac is Moc in Tzental-Zotzil. 
But Oxlahun tax means the "thirteen plains", and is apparentlj^ 
nothing else than the oxlahun taz ("the thirteen beds or strata") — 
that is, the oxlahun tazmuyal ("the thirteen layers of clouds"), which 
are invoked in the blessing of the fields (tich, misa milpera), noted 
b}^ Brasseur de Bourbourg in the Hacienda of Xconchakan. In 
other words, the demon Coslahun tox is nothing else than the cloud 
spirit Moan," in whose glyph {I; figure 4) we find the thirteen layers or 

oSeler, Charakter der Aztekischen und der Maya-Handschriften (Zeitschrift fiir Ethnologie, v. 20, 
p. 91). 



44 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

coverings indicated, and whose picture (Z, m) might readily create in 
the Bishop's mind the conception that the demon was represented with 
horns, all the more so because the monks were apt to see devils ever}^- 
where in the figures of aboriginal mythology and to imagine the devils 
ver}^ realisticall}' with horns. We should therefore translate the 
Tzental-Zotzil name tox by "covering", "veil", "strata", "cloud 
covering". And then it is a striking coincidence that we also find the 
Zapotec word for the sixth day sign used, alone or in combination 
with pee or zaa, for "cloud". Compare pee-lana-tao-pej^e or pee-zaa- 
lana-tao-nagace, nube negra 3^ oscura (literally, "great fog cloud", 
"great black cloud"), zaa-quiepaa, pee-zaa, zee-lana-tao-yati, nube 
blanca. From the idea of "covered", "dark", might readily be 
evolved that of death, by whose name the sixth day sign is denoted in 
the other calendars. Indeed, Moan, the cloud spirit, also appears in the 
Maya manuscript, invariably accompanied with the symbol of death. 

It is as easy to decipher the seventh day sign as it was hard to read 
the sixth. By removing the prefix we get the name china, and this 
is exactly the Mexican mazatl, "deer", given in the Mexican calen- 
dar, and the queh, quieh, given in the Guatemalan calendar, as the 
seventh day sign. In my earlier work I strove to show that the 
Maya glyph for the seventh day sign also agrees with this. The real 
meaning is, as I stated on page 32, "to eat", "food", "meat". The 
Maya word manik is possibly may-nik ("cloven hoof"). 

For the eighth day sign, which answers to the Mexican Tochtli, 
"rabbit," we obtain, after removing the prefix, the word lapa. Now, 
there is no such word as lapa, "rabbit"; but the designations which 
are used for "rabbit" lead to the same idea which is contained in 
lapa. Lapa means "to divide", "to break in pieces", and the rab- 
bit is peela or piteeza, both of which words mean "the divided", 
"that which is cut up (carved)". That the idea of something divided, 
cut up, underlies the name of this day sign is also proved by the Ma3^a 
hierogl3q)h for the same {v, figure 4), in which the idea of divided, 
cut up, is clearly indicated. Perhaps the expressions Lambat and 
Lamat, which are used in Tzental-Zotzil and in Maya for this day 
sign, and which can hardly be explained from the well-known Maya 
roots, may also be traced back to this underlying Zapotec lapa. 

The ninth day sign is in Mexican atl, "water". The Zapotec cal- 
endar gives the words niza and queza. The former is the familiar 
and generally used Zapotec word for "water". Various derivatives 
show that queza is only a variant of niza — peque^a, peni^'a, or pinica, 
milano ave; quie-caclie-ni(;a, <|uie — que(;a, marmol, piedra marmolena 
("marble, marble stone"). Both are probably derived from ezaa 
("to come down"). 

For the tenth day sign the Zapotec calendar gives the word tella; 
the Mexican has Itzcuintli, "dog". The Maya expressions for this 



SELER] THE MEXICAN CHRONOLOGY 45 

day sign are obscure, but 1 proved in my earlier work that the gl.yphs 
o and q ^same fig'ure) stood for " dog'\ The dog pla3^s an important 
part in Ma^^a manuscripts. He is the lightning beast, who darts from 
heaven with a torch in his hand (see Dresden codex, page 40/^). And 
the death-bringing signiticance of the dog is alsc set forth in glyph ^>, 
in which we tind the vertebral column of a skeleton, as also in v, the 
hieroglyph of the month Kan-kin, the 3^ellow, that is, the scorching 
sun high in the zenith. The dog shares this role of lightning beast in 
the manuscripts with two other creatures. One represents a beast of 
prey, unspotted, with long tail, a rather long head, and the sign Akbal 
over the e3^e, which is denoted in the Dresden codex, page 36«, by the 
principal hieroglyph of the tiger and also by 5, a glyph, which is com- 
posed of theda}^ sign Kan and the glyph kan, ""yellow", and therefore 
probabh?^ denotes the yellow beast. I think that it is meant for the 
lion or jaguar (coh), which is also, for instance, in Zapotec, described 
as "the yellow beast of prey" (peche-yache). The other creature has 
a head with a proboscislike, elongated snout, ?', and hoofs on its feet; 
it is glyphically described b}^ this same head and also by glyph u^ 
which is composed of an ax, a feather, and the abbreviation of a head, 
or the sign uinal ("a whole man")'^'. 1 take this creature to be tzimin, 
("a tapir"). We know that Central American nations connected the 
tapir closel}^ with the deities of the four cardinal points. We are told 
of the Itzaex at Peten that the}^ worshiped an idol " de figura de 
cavallo (of the tigure of a horse)", which bore the name Tzimin-Chac, 
Caballo del Trueno 6 Rayo ("'horse of the thunder or lightning") and 
was regarded by them as the god of thunder and lightning. 

Nuiiez de la Vega says of the great god Votan at Chiapas: Que en 
Huehueta, que es pueblo Soconusco, estuvo, 3^ que alii puso dantas 
y un tesoro grande en una casalobrega, que fabrico a soplos. ("That 
he was at Huehueta, which is a village of Soconusco, and that there he 
placed tapirs and a great treasure in an obscure house which he erected 
in an instant.") Certainly, the conception of the tapirs supporting the 
heavens and the words for it have penetrated even into Mexico. The 
six tzitzimime ilhuicatzitzquique, angeles de aire sostenedores del cielo 
que eran, segun decian dioses de los aires que traian las lluvias, aguas, 
truenos, relampagos 3^ ra3ros 3" habian de estar a la redonda de Uitzilo- 
pochtli ("angels of the air, upholders of the heavens; thev were, as 
we are told, gods of the air, who brought the rain, waters, thunder, 
lightning, and sunbeams, and must have been in the neighborhood of 
Uitzilopochtli"), which Tezozomoc mentions, are nothing else but the 
plural forms of tzimin, "tapir", constructed according to the rules of 
the Mexican tongue. From it, indeed, iuversel3^, a singular form, 
tzitzimitl, which is the title of a particular warrior's dress combined 

"Seler, Ueber die Bedeutung des Zahlzeichens 20 in der Maya-Schrift (Zeitschrift fiir Ethnologie, 
V, 19, Verhandlungen, pp. 238, 239). 



46 BUREAU OF AMEJRICAISr ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

with a skull mask, is derived. And if the rain g-od Chac is distin- 
guished in the Maya manuscript bj^ a peculiarly long nose, curving 
over the mouth (see the hieroglyph in e^ figure 3, page 36), and if in 
the other form of the rain god, to which, as it seems, the name Bolon 
Zacab belongs, the nose widens out and sends out shoots, I believe 
that the tapir, which was employed identically with Chac, the rain god, 
furnished the model for this also. 

The tapir is called in Zapotec peche-xolo, and the native hairless 
dog peco-xolo. Dog and tapir, then, the two animals darting from 
heaven, who carry lightning and thunderbolts in their hands, are 
brought together here in the common designation xolo. This word 
Xolo itself is the familiar name of a demon, the demon Xolotl, who 
rules over the sixteenth week (Ce Cozcaquauhtli), and the seventeenth 
day sign (Olin), and who is represented directly as a dog (Codex 
Vatican us B, pages 4 and 77) or at least with the cropped ears of a dog 
(Borgian codex, page 50, and Codex Vaticanus B, page 33), and who is 
distinguished as the deity of air and of the four directions of the wind 
by QuetzalcoatFs breast ornament, and by the fact that the four colors, 
symbols of the four cardinal points, and the sign naui olin ("the four 
movements"), are represented close beside him. There is therefore no 
doubt that this demon is to be considered as equivalent to the beast 
darting from heaven of the Maya manuscript. The spirit Xolotl is usu- 
ally described by translators as the "god of abortions". He is actu- 
ally also depicted in the Borgian codex, page 27, as crooked-limbed and 
blear-eyed. And in Mexico all sorts of mongrel figures, which were 
regarded as abortions, were described by the word Xolotl. 

If we now return to the word tela, b}^ which the tenth day sign is 
denoted in the Zapotec calendar, it appears that we can find no mean- 
ing for it if we simply employ the word "dog", corresponding to the 
Mexican itzcuintli, but that the word at once becomes intelligible if 
we think of the dog darting from heaven, as represented in the Maya 
manuscript. For tela is tee-lao, boca abajo, "with the head down", 
hence answering" to the Mexican Tzontemoc. The contracted form 
tela occurs in Zapotec in various derivatives, such as ti-tela-nii, used 
of the kicking out behind of animals; tinnij-natela, "to hold perverse 
speech"; totela, "to shake the dice from the cup (with its mouth 
downward)"; quela-natela-lachi, "confusion (when every thing is upside 
down and topsj^-turvy in our minds)." 

For the elev^enth day sign the Zapotec calendar, after removing the 
prefix, gives the form loo or (in 1 XI) goloo. This answers to the 
Mexican Ozomatli, "ape", for the vocabulary gives pillao, pilleo, pilloo 
gonna, mona animal (gonna is onlj^ the feminine designation). I have 
shown in my former work that the other calendars, as well as the 
Maya glyphs ot this day sign, agree with this meaning. 

For the twelfth day sign the Zapotec calendar gives the form pija. 



SELEK] THE MEXICAN CHRONOLOGY 47 

But when it is combined with the numeral 1, where we should expect 
to find quia pija or quiepija, qui cuija is g-iven. It seems as if there 
must be some mistake here, and that we should read it quie pija or quie 
chija. Pii, chii means " to be turned ". Thus pija corresponds exactly 
to the name (Malinalli) which the day sign bears in the Mexican cal- 
endar. But the name and the delineation of this sign are ditt'erent in 
the Maya calendar. The name is ee or eb— that is, "a row of teeth", 
"a row of peaks". It is translated in the Guatemalan chronicle, as 
in the Mexican Malinalli, by escobilla (" brush"). This translation is 
undoubtedly correct. The escobilla is a broomlike or brushlike instru- 
ment, made of plant fibers bound together, which is still very gener- 
ally used by the Indian women to clean their clothes and comb their 
hair (in Zapotec peego). The brush is therefore the symbol of purifica- 
tion and the instrument of women. It is the attribute of the mighty 
goddess Teteoinnan, or Toci, the ancient earth goddess, in whose honor 
the ''broom feast" (Ochpaniztli)— that is, the feast of purification, or 
atonement for sin — was celebrated in the middle of the summer. The 
Maya hieroglyph for the twelfth day sign (see a a, figure 5) shows us 
the face of the ancient goddess, and behind it, as a distinguishing mark, 
the escobilla. 

For the thirteenth day sign we find the word forms quij, ij, and 
laa. Quij means "the reed", corresponding to the name Acatl, which 
this day sign bears in the Mexican calendar and with which the Guate- 
malan title ah seems to agree. The Maya word been is obscure; but I 
have proved in my former work that the glyph Been refers to the same 
idea of the reed or, perhaps more accurately, to the woven reed roof, 
the woven reed mat. I do not find the meaning "reed" given in the 
dictionary for the word laa. As, however, in considering the second 
day sign (" wind", "fire") we found these same word forms, quij and 
laa, to be synonymous, it is probable that there was also a synonym 
laa for quij, "reed". Moreover, it is a remarkable coincidence that 
in the Maya text the glyphs of these two day signs, which have the 
same names in Zapotec, the glyphs Ik and Been, should most fre- 
quently occur in company (see h, figure 3). 

For the fourteenth day sign, the Mexican Ocelotl, "tiger", the 
Zapotec calendar gives gueche, eche, ache, just as in the fourth day 
sign. As there in the words peche, peeche, beeche, "frog" of the 
dictionary, we were able to prove an agreement with the Mexican 
name, so here the dictionary gives peche-tao (" the great beast"), tigre, 
animal feroz. I have shown in my earlier work that the Maya glyph 
is also expressive of the tiger. The Cakchikel title, Yiz, that is in 
Maya h-ez, "the magician", is to be regarded as explanatory of the 
Maya name for this day sign (Ix), to my idea one more link in the 
chain of reasoning in favor of the theory that the system of day signs 



48 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOaY [bull. 28 

became known to the Mayas through the medium of the kindred races 
of Chiapas. For a Tzental-Zotzil x frequently corresponds to the 
Maya z. 

In the Zapotec calendar the fifteenth day sign had the form naa and, 
where it is combined with the numeral 1, quinnaa. The Mexican name 
is Quauhtli, "eagle", which is easily reconciled with the Guatemalan 
tziquin, "bird", but not so readily with the Maya word men and 
the Maya hieroglyph (y, figure 4). But here again the Zapotec name 
afi'ords linguistic evidence of what I felt compelled to infer, in my 
earlier work, from the form of the hieroglyph. The Maya hiero- 
glyph, y, shows an aged, wrinkled face. And we see this hiero- 
glyph, lengthened out, decorated with pompons, w^ applied in 
various ways pictorially and hieroglyphically, among others in the 
hieroglyph which usually accompanies the chief hieroglyph of the 
eagle. I decided at that time that the Maya hieroglyph repre- 
sented the picture of the old earth mother, the universally adored 
goddess known as Tonantzin, "our mother", who goes about stuck 
over with the fine white downy feathers of the eagle, and who appears 
in the Vienna codex, under the name hieroglyph ce Quauhtli, or 
"eagle". Now the Zapotec name gives us the same, for naa, iiaa 
means "mother", a word which usually appears only with the prefix 
xi of genitive significance, because names of relationship were never 
used without an indication of possession. 

The sixteenth day sign is designated in the Mexican calendar by the 
picture of the vulture (Cozcaquauhtli). The Maya races of Guatemala 
designate it as ah-mak, and this word also seems to denote the vul- 
ture, "who eats out eyes", "who makes pitlike excavations". The 
Zapotec word is loo, or guilloo. This indeed could not mean the 
vulture, but a ditterent bird, the raven (pelao, halloo). The vulture in 
Zapotec is pellaqui (pelahui, balai, baldai). Now it is not impossible 
that one and the same conception underlies both these titles. Lao, 
loo, means "eye", "face", "front", "outside". Laqui, lahui, lai, 
means "set into the veiy midst", "between", "common", "public". 
But at any rate, the meaning which lies at the bottom of the root of 
pellaqui, baldai, "vulture", also occurs in the root loo. We have, 
for instance, xi-loo-eela, co-loo-eela, "in the middle of the night", 
"midnight''; loo-thoo, the "middle of the body", "breast", "trunk". 
Still a third bird is mentioned in the Mexican calendar, of the Cronica 
Franciscana of Guatemala, namely the tecolotl, "the night bird", 
"the owl". The idea of death forms a connecting link between the 
vulture feeding on corpses and the dark bird of night which is easily 
understood. So, too, in picture writings we often find the cozca- 
quauhtli and the owl used interchangeably. 

The Maya hieroglyph, as I have already stated in ni}^ earlier work, 
gives rise to very diti'erent conceptions. It shows us (see a?, figure -i) a 



SELER] THE MEXICAN CHRONOLOGY 49 

figure which is invariably used in tlie manuscripts on the jugs from 
which the intoxicating drink mead foams (see ^, figure 3, page 36), 
and which seems to be nothing but a somewhat conventionalized 
form of the yacametztli, the half-moon-shaped nose ornament of the 
pulque god, which is used on drinking vessels in Mexican picture 
writing.^ The upper part of the hieroglyph shows the stripes usually 
employed for snakes, and seems to indicate the snake, which is often 
drawn winding about the wine jug. The name Cib also suits this con- 
ception, for ci is the maguey plant and is also used to denote the 
pulque made from it, as well as all other intoxicating drinks. Cib 
might therefore be formed with the instrumental suffix and mean 
"that which is used for making wine", either the honey or, perhaps 
more correctly, the narcotic root which was added to the fermented 
drink. The Mexicans called this addition patli, "medicine", from 
which the pulque god was known as Patecatl.* There is a connection 
between these conceptions and the Mexican name for the day sign 
(Cozaquauhtli, "vulture"), as I have already pointed out in my 
earlier work, arising from the conception of the vulture, "the bald- 
headed," as the symbol of age, for the enjoyment of pulque, the intox- 
icating drink, was in Mexico granted to old age only. It now seems 
as if the Zapotec name for this day sign also fitted into the framework 
of these conceptions, for loo, loo-paa, is the root, and may therefore 
correspond to the Mexican patli, the Maya cib, that is, the pulque 
seasoning. In German there is an undoubted etymologic connection 
between Wurzel (" root") and Wiirze ("seasoning"). So I believe that 
the double meaning of the Zapotec name has perhaps more to do with 
the divergent representation and designation of the sixteenth day sign, 
as it appears in the Mexican and Maya calendar, than the connection of 
ideas which links the conceptions of vulture, baldness, old age, and 
pulque. If I am not mistaken, a divergent representation of this 
day sign is also actually expressed in the Maya hieroglyph. For we 
occasionally find a variant of it [y, figure 4) in which the distinguish- 
ing element is not the pulque symbol, but a feather, or perhaps the 
night bird itself, the owl (see hh, figure 4, one of the glyphs of the 
owl). This would also answer to the above-mentioned Guatemalan 
name for this day sign. The forms in the books of Chilan Balam [z and 
«a), also seem to indicate or reproduce a feather. 

The seventeenth day sign in the Zapotec calendar is xoo. This 
corresponds exactly with the Aztec name for it, Olin, "motion", 
for the Zapotec word xoo combines with the more general meaning 
"powerful", "strong", "forcible", the special one "earthquake": 

aSee VerSffentlichung des Koniglichen Museums fiir Volkerkunde in Berlin, v. 1, pp. 132,133 and 
flgs. 61, and 62, p. 169. 

ft In my article on "DasTonalamatlderAubin'schenSammlung" (Compte rendu du septi^me session 
du Congrfes international d'Americanistes, Berlin, 1888), I accepted the incorrect reading Pantecatl. 
All the deductions based on this reading are therefore faulty. 

7238— No. 28—05 4 



50 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

xoo, xixooni, temblor de tierra ("earthquake"); tixoo layoo, temblar 
la tierra ("for the earth to shake"); pitao-xoo, dios de los terremotos 
(" god of earthquakes"). And it is well known that in Mexican picture- 
writings on historical subjects, as those in Codex Telleriano-Remensis 
and Codex Vaticanus A, the sign Olin— usually, to be sure, in connec- 
tion with the brown and black dotted stripes, which signify the earth 
or the tilled field— is generally used to denote a coming earthquake, 
as the verb olini is especially used of earthquakes: auh in tlalli olini 
(Olmos). 

But if this is the original meaning of olin, we shall likewise have to 
search for a similar first conception for the hieroglyph by which the 
seventeenth day sign is known in the Maya manuscript. And, in fact, 
the very name which the day sign bears in the calendars of the Maya 
races points to this fundamental conception. The Tzental-Zotzil word 
chic means "to shake". The Guatemalan word noh means "great", 
"powerful", answering to the original meaning of the Zapotec xoo. 
The Maya name caban means "that which is brought down", "that 
which is below", that is, "earth", "world". The root cab has a still 
more pregnant meaning: in Charencey's vocabulary it is translated as 
terrain volcanique, that is, "earthquake region". In a broader sense 
it is also used for "earth", "world". And if the same root, cab, also 
means "excretion" and "honey", miel, colmena, ponzona de insecto, 
untuosidad de una planta o fruta, ("honey", "beehive", "venom 
insect", "juice of a plant or fruit"), then the intermediate idea is, it 
seems to me, that of dripping down. 

The forms of the hieroglyph Caban («, figure 5) are very nmch alike. 
But I did not recognize the real meaning in my earlier article. The 
hieroglyph contains an element which forms the characteristic constit- 
uent of the glyph of the young goddess Chibirias, or Ixchebelyax, who, 
as I think I can prove, takes the name Zac Zuhuy, "the white virgin ", 
a name which we also recognize in Zac Ziui, the Bacab of the Ix year, 
mentioned by Landa. It is evident in the hieroglpyh of this goddess 
{h and c, same figure) that the element which forms the distinguishing 
constituents of the hieroglyph Caban is meant to represent a part of 
the dark tuft of hair, with the long, waving, whiplike strands which 
give the whole figure of the goddess, where she is drawn in full, so 
characteristic an appearance. According to this we should conceive 
of the hieroglyph Caban merely as an abbreviation of the hieroglyph 
of this goddess, and thus recur to the same meaning which I have 
already derived from the Zapotec word xoo, namely, "the earth"; 
for Ixchebelyax, the young goddess, is only another form of the earth 
goddess, who occupies the same position in regard to the old earth 
mother Ixchel that Xochiquetzal does to Tonantzin among the Mexi- 
cans. I find a striking proof of the accuracy of this conception of the 
hieroglyph Caban in the fact that this hieroglyph appears homolo- 



seler] 



THE MEXICAN CHRONOLOGY 



51 



gously with the hieroglyphic men {v, figure 4), which, as I stated 
above, is the picture of the old earth goddess, the earth mother, Ixchel, 
or Tonantzin (compare the two forms g and A, figure 5, which are 
used for the bee fl3''ing down, in Troano codex, page 9*a). 

And, finall3^ this conception of the sign Caban also agrees very well 
with the part played by the hieroglyph Caban in the compound hiero- 
glyphs in the Maya manuscript; for this element forms an essential 
constituent in all hieroglyphs which symbolize the word "below" or 
















Fig. 5. Day signs and related glyphs from the Maya codices. 

"descent from above". Thus in the hieroglyph of the fifth cardinal 
point {e to ^, figure 1), which denotes the center; in the hieroglyph of 
the bee {e to A, figure 5), which represents an insect swooping down from 
above; in the hieroglyphs {I to n., figure 5) which illustrate pouring 
from a jug or wine skin; in the hieroglyph 6», which denotes the felling 
of the tree; in the snake formed b}^ the sign Caban, upon which, in the 
Dresden codex, page 30«, the green Chac, the Chac of the fifth direc- 
tion, is descending. When, in my former article, I described this caban 



52 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

snake, as well as d^ which in the Dresden manuscript in several places 
serves as a seat or footstool for Chac, and the element Caban generally 
as the heavenly seat, I gave the wrong emphasis to descent from above 
instead of to descent. In fact, this figure, like lo, figure 4, which serves 
in other parts of the Dresden manuscript as the seat of ('hac, should 
be defined as "the lower place", the "earth". Indeed, the face of 
the old earth goddess is clearly visible in w^ figure 4, while the figure 
of the hieroglyph Gaban, as I stated above, shows us the goddess's hair. 
1 will also mention /, figure 6, which in the Troano codex, page 25*J, 
accompanies the figure of the tobacco-smoking god of heaven. Accord- 
ing to a view still prevailing in Yucatan, the Balam, the gods of the four 
cardinal points, or the four winds, are great smokers, and shooting 
stars are merely the burning stumps of gigantic cigars which these 
beings fling down from heaven. And when it thunders and lightens, 
the Balam are striking fire to light their cigars. « Glyph i gives us the 
element of the stone and the element of descent from on high. The 
popular belief just described explains therefore in a simple way these 
singular pictures and the hieroglyphs which accompany them. In 
another place (Troano codex, page 26*5) the smoker is described in the 
text by the hieroglyph h. This is either to be translated as " the noc- 
turnal" (see the hieroglyph Akbal) or as "the red", Chac. For I 
have found the element Akbal in various places (for instance, in the 
Cortes codex, page %)d) used as a substitute for u, figure 1, Chac, " red". 

The eighteenth day sign in the Zapotec calendar bears the name 
opa or gopa. This is undoubtedly the same word as copa, "cold", 
"the cold"; taca-copa, tipee-copa, "to be cold"; tixopa-ya, "I am 
cold." This name agrees with the meaning of the sign in the Mexican 
calendar (Tecpatl, "flint") and with the pictures of the Maya hiero- 
glyphs (Ezanab), which also represent the stone which is struck, the 
tip of the flint; for the notions "stone", "tip", " cold" are merged, 
one into the other, in the conceptions and language of the Mexicans. 
Itztlacoliuhqui, the god of stone, is also the god of cold, of infatuation, 
and of sin. 

The Zapotec name for the nineteenth day sign is harder to interpret. 
After removing the prefixes, we have the forms ape, appe, aape, gappe. 
This is probably to be resolved into aa-pee or caa-pee, and this would 
signify "covered with clouds" or " cloud covering". Now, this does 
not answer directly to the Mexican name Quiauitl, " rain", but it does 
to the form of the Maya hieroglyph (;:?, figure 5), which, as I have 
shown in my former work, contains an abbreviation of the head of 
the moan bird (Z", /, and in, figure 4), the mythical conception of the 
muyal, the "cloud covering of the heavens." The name also seems to 
correspond to the other Mexican names, for the sign in Guatemala 
was ayotl, " tortoise"; for the cloud was also expressed by the picture 

wBrinton, Folklore Journal, v. 1. 



SELER] THE MEXICAN CHRONOLOGY 53 

of a flj'ing tortoise. In Cortes codex, page 17^, we see its picture 
accompanied b}^ the g-roup of hierogl^rphs of <7, figure 5, which con- 
tains in its first part above the element of flying and below it the ele- 
ment Cauac. And elsewhere we see the tortoise, now in a stream of 
water, with the frog, coming down from above; again with open jaws 
hanging to the heavenly shield. '^ 

But if the Zapotec name for the nineteenth day sign can only be 
placed among the names of the other calendars with a certain doubt 
attached to it, on the other hand the Zapotec language afl'ords the only 
and direct clue to an explanation of the part which the hieroglyph 
Cauac plays in the Maya manuscript. We find on the one hand, it is 
true, terms which approach to the idea of clouds and rain. Thus there 
is the hieroglyph s, the companion hieroglyph of k, figure 4, that is, the 
]>ird moan. So also in _/, figure 3 (page 36), is the companion hiero- 
glyph of the name Kinchahau, which besides Cauac also contains the 
element of fire and that of the ax, which would suggest the lightning- 
flashing from the clouds. But the hieroglyph Cauac is chiefly used 
simply with the meaning "stone" or "weight". This is most strik- 
ingly shown in the animal traps which are represented in Troano codex, 
pages 9a and 22*^, where the stones laid upon the beams to weigh them 
down have the element of the hieroglyph Cauac written on them. But 
we must also accept this same explanation when we find the pyramidal 
substructure of the temple covered with the element of the sign Cauac. 
And if in Troano codex, page 15*«, the Chac felling a tree is confronted 
with the death god felling a tree which is covered with the element of 
the sign Cauac, it probably onl}^ means that a barren stone is substituted 
in the case of the death god for what is a living tree in the case of Chac. 
The man}^ instances where the hieroglyph Cauac serves as a seat or foot- 
stool for the gods are probably to be interjDreted sometimes as clouds, 
but in most cases undoubtedly as stone, homologous with the hiero- 
glyph Caban and the element tun ("stone") itself (;2?, figure 5), both of 
which we so often find depicted as the seat and footstool of the gods. 
There is quite as little doubt that the element Cauac in the hieroglyph 
of //', which denotes the bearing of a burden on the back, is to be con- 
ceived of simply as the expression of "that which weighs down", 
"the burden". 

In the remarkable instances where we find the gods holding a board 
in their hands on which are the elements of the sign Cauac or where 
a board provided with a plaited handle is drawn in front of the gods, 
the surface being covered with the element Cauac, it seems to denote 
a sounding-board, for the hieroglyphs added seem to mean music. 
Finally, there are also direct resemblances between the element Cauac 

a The tortoise plays a similar part among the northern Indians. Catlin learned from the Mandan 
that " there were four tortoises— one in the north, one in the east, one in the south, and one in the 
west. Each one of these rained ten days and the water covered the earth." (Manners and Customs 
of the North American Indians, v. 1, p. 181.) 



54 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

and the element tun. Thus in the hieroglyph of the g'od of hunting, v, 
whose distinguishing characteristic usually is that lie bears on his 
diadem an eye or the element tun, that is, a "jewel". The hiero- 
glyph of this god is sometimes written in the form shown at t; some- 
times in that of u. And that the element substituted in a for the 
element Cauac is actually to be conceived of here as tun or "stone", 
"precious stone", follows, on the one hand, from its use as a precious 
stone in the head ornament (tun, "stone", "precious stone"), and, on 
the other hand, from its being the basis for the post on which Mam, 
the Uuayayab demon, is set in the xma kaba Idn (Dresden codex, page 
25c). Now, it is surely quite safe to assume a connection of ideas 
between clouds, rain, and stone, for in those regions every rain is a 
thunderstorm. Nevertheless, it will be plain that an armj'^ of doubts 
was routed when I hit upon the fact in the course of my Zapotec 
studies that the very same word, that is, quia, quie, is used in Zapotec 
for "rain" and "stone". 

For the last day sign we find in the Zapotec calendar the name lao 
or loo, and this means "eye", "face", "front." This again does not 
agree directly with the Mexican Xochitl, "flower", but with the form 
of the Maya hieroglyph {y and 2), which undoubtedl}'- represents a 
face. The name of the Maya sign Ahau, "leader", also agrees. 
There is also undoubtedl}^ a connection of ideas between "eye" and 
"flower". To be sure, I can not now actually prove it from the 
Zapotec tongue. But I showed the metamorphosis of the eye into 
the flower in the Zapotec figm-es which I described and copied in 
Veroffentlichungen aus dem Koniglichen Museum fiir Volkerkunde, 
volume 1, parts 1 to 4. And indeed the Zapotec word for flower may 
explain some singular resemblances of the hieroglyph Ahau. In 
Zapotec, for instance, "flower" is quije, which is very much like the 
word quie, "rain", and "stone". The i, as is stated in a gram- 
mar, was pronounced with stronger emphasis ("for this ij is empha- 
sized more than to signify the stone"). Now, it is indeed a striking 
fact that the element Ahau (Mexican xochitl, "flower") in some 
hieroglyphs seems to be homologous with the element Cauac (Mexican 
quiauitl, "rain"). If this were a single instance, 1 should not lay 
much stress upon it. But as the above researches as to the meaning 
of the Zapotec day signs have in almost ever}' instance shown that the 
Zapotec names formed the connecting link for apparently irreconcil- 
able difl'erences in the Mexican and Maya names and designations, I 
believe that I may also add this coincidence to the rest. 

It is obvious from its situation and it is also historically proved that 
the country of the Zapotecs was the region above all others in which 
an interchange was efl'ected of cultural influences which spread from 
the Mexican region to that of the Mava races and vice versa. But 



SELEE] THE MEXICAN CHRONOLOGY 55 

the present researches force us to the conclusion that the Zapotec 
country was more than a region of interchange; that it was the land in 
which the Mexican calendar, a most important factor in our knowledge 
of the Mexican races, had its origin. Indeed, among no other races 
did the calendar and the determining of fate connected with it exert so 
powerful an influence over all the relations of life as among the 
Zapotecs. We can speak with greater confidence upon this point 
when more is known of that Maya race bordering on the Zapotecs, 
the Tzental-Zotzil of Chiapas. 



ANCIENT MEXICAN FEATHER ORNAMENTS 



EDUARD SELER 



57 



ANCIENT MEXICAN FEATHER ORNAMENTS" 



By Eduard Seler 



In the question raised by Mrs Nuttall as to whether the ancient 
Mexican feather ornament in the Imperial Museum of Natural Histor}^ 
at Vienna, which came from the collection at the castle of Ambras, is 
to be reg-arded as a standard, such as prominent Mexican warriors wore 
strapped to their backs in battle and in dances, or rather as a headdress, 
I have not declared for one theor}^ or another, and have taken part 
only in so far as I was justified in believing Mrs Nuttall's proofs to rest 
on mistaken premises. She maintains that the ornament in question 
should be considered as a headdress, and, indeed, onlv as the headdress 
of Uitzilopochtli, which at the same time was also worn b}^ the Mexi- 
can king. This view I am inclined to reject. 

As for the matter itself, Valentini has already pointed out in an 
article in the American Antiquarian that headdresses similar to the 
Vienna headdress are to be found here and there upon figures in the 
Maya sculptures. Mrs Nuttall subsequently brought forward the figure 
of a god from a picture manuscript which she was so fortunate as to dis- 
cover in the Biblioteca Nazionale at Florence (and which is an older 
and better copy of the codex attributed to Ixtlilxochitl than is in the 
Aubin-Goupil collection), a figure wearing a head ornament which 
is indeed strikingl}^ like the Vienna ornament as it now exists with 
missing frontlet. But this is not the god Uitzilopochtli, as Mrs Nut- 
tall asserts and as 1 also credulously repeated, but Tezcatlipoca. I 
recentl}^ assured myself of this when I had an opportunity to examine 
the original in Florence. 

This figure is surrounded by impressions of a child's foot imprinted 
in the scattered meal, which announces the arrival of the young god 
Telpochtli Tezcatlipoca, the first of the gods returning home to their 
citv. The god Tezcatlipoca is represented in exactly the same way in the 
Codex Vaticanus A, and there denotes the twelfth feast of the year, the 
feast Teotleco ("the god has arrived"). Finally, I have tried, in my 
second article, to make it seem probable that the quetzalapanecayotl 
("quetzal-feather ornament of the people of the coast regions"), 

a Verhandlungen der Berliner Gesellschaft fur Anthropologie, 1893, p. 44. 

59 



60 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



[bull. 28 



which, together with xiuh-xayacatl, or coa-xayacacatl, the snake mask 
of turquoise mosaic, forms the most conspicuous piece of adornment 
of the god known as Quetzalcouatl in the legend cycle of Tollan,« was 
a headdress similar to that worn by the god in the manuscript of the 
Biblioteca Nazionale. Being convinced of this, I could accept Mrs 
Nuttall's conjecture that the upper part of the hieroglyph apanecatl 
in the Boturini codex was intended to represent an apanecayotl. 
While I fully recognized that the interpretation offered by Mrs 
Nuttall was not unwarranted, I still believed that the other con- 
struction, given by von Hochstetter, which is based on an old oil 
painting in the Bilimec collection, was not to be set aside. For, six 
months before, during an inspection of the Aubin-Goupil collection, 
I had discovered the original of the Bilimec warrior in the figure of 
King Axayacatl, who advances to battle against the arrogant Moquiuix, 
king of Tlatelolco, with the banner bound upon his back. I could 




Flu. G. Copy of figure in tlie Cozcatzin codex. 

merel}^ allude to this in my communication of that date. For during 
the hour which was allowed me to examine the Aubin-Goupil collection 
I had no time for even the hastiest sketch. Doctor Uhle, who under- 
took to defend Mrs NuttalTs views in a reply, was quite reluctant to 
accept this statement, brought forward without proof. Fortunately, I 
am now in a position to offer a photographic reproduction of the pages 
in question (Cozcatzin codex, pages 14 and 15), which is taken from 
E. Boban's published synopsis of the Aubin-Goupil collection. 

The very first glance shows us that the selfsame warrior in the self- 
same ornaments is represented here as in the Bilimec picture (compare 
figure 6 and d, figure 9), only the latter is not a mere cop}" of one of the 
figures in the Cozcatzin codex, but of kindred originals, and at any 
rate the same tradition guided the artist in both cases. 

o Botli these pieces are ascribed to Quetzalcouatl of Tollan, not only in the passage from the Anales 
de Quauhtitlan, which I quoted in my former article, but also in the Aztec text of the twelfth book 
of the historical work of P. Sahagun. 



SELEE] ANCIENT MEXICAN FEATHER ORNAMENTS 61 

At the time when Axaj^acatl was king, that is, supreme war chief of 
the Mexicans, the kingdom passed through a severe crisis. After 
Itzcouatl freed the Mexicans from the supremac}'^ of Azcapotzalco 
and the elder Motecuhzoma had prepared the conditions for the later 
rapid extension of Mexican dominion b}- establishing the alliance of the 
three states and forcibly subjugating Chalca, the enemy arose against 
Axayacatl in his own house. Close by Tenochtitlan, on the same 
marsh island, was the sister city of Tlatelolco, whose inhabitants, 
although of another and an older race than the Tenochca, living accord- 
ing to laws of their own, had hitherto united their interests with those 
of the Mexicans and fought shoulder to shoulder with them— for 
instance, against Azcapotzalco. In the early years of Axayacatl's reign, 
discontent, which had probably long been smoldering, broke out. 
Histories give various insignificant provocations as the cause. Suffice 
it to say that Moquiuix, king of Tlatelolco, openly took up arms 
against Tenochtitlan. The danger was all the greater because the 
neighboring cities allied to the Tlatelolca, Azcapotzalco, Tenayocan, 
and Quauhtitlan, also turned theii- arms against the Tenochca. Here 
young Axayacatl seems to have decided the matter in favor of the 
Mexicans by his own military ability. The Tlatelolca were forced 
back from street to street and finally surrounded in the great market 
place of Tlatelolco, near which the terraced pyramid of their god 
rose like a citadel. The warriors of the Tlatelolca took refuge upon 
its apex, and it was Axayacatl himself, as historians unanimously state, 
who, pressing forward, slew King Moquiuix and hurled him down the 
steps of the pyramid. It is this event which is portrayed in the 
accompanying cut (figure (5) from the Cozcatzin codex. On the left we 
see King Moquiuix, in eagle array and denoted by his name hieroglyph, 
escaping up the steps of the pyramid pursued by Axayacatl; on the 
right, the victorious Axayacatl on the pyramid and Moquiuix lying 
vanquished at the foot. 

I have pointed out in earlier works that it follows from history, as 
well as from picture manuscripts, that Mexican kings and commanders 
in chief in later times assumed in war the dress and attributes of the 
god Xipe, the red god of the Yopi, who was called Tlatlauhqui Tezcatl 
or Tlatlauhqui Tezcatlipoca, the god who was clad in a fiayed human 
skin. This follows from various passages in the Cronica Mexicana 
of Tezozomoc. It is confirmed by Sahagun, who mentions as first 
among the military equipments of kings the tlauhquecholtzontli 
("crown made of the feathers of the roseate spoonbill"), which was 
worn together with the coztic teocuitlayo ueuetl ("the gilded timbrel"), 
the tlauhquecholeuatl ("the jacket of spoonbill feathers"), and the 
tzapocueitl ("the petticoat or apron of green feathers lapping over 
one another like tiles"), all parts of the dress of Xipe. And it is 
clearly demonstrated by a passage in the Codex Vatican us A (page 12S), 



62 



BUREAU OF AMERICAlSr ETHNOLOGY 



[BULL. 28 



where we find, in the year "9 Calli" or A. D. 1501, King Mote- 
cuhzoma the 3^oung-er represented in the complete dress of Xipe 
as victor over Toluca {a, figure 7). This Xipe dress is expressly men- 
tioned in a passage of the Cronica Mexicana by Tezozomoc as the 
dress formerly worn by King Axayacatl. I copy the passage in full, 
because it is of interest in relation to our picture. It refers to an 
enterprise against Uexotzinco, lying on the other side of the mountains 
and hostile to the Mexican confederation, in the reign of Motecuh- 
zoma the younger. Tlacauepan, the younger brother of the king, 
comes to Motecuhzoma and says: "Lord, I believe that my eyes to- 
day behold you for the last time, for I am minded to put myself at the 
head of the troops and make my way through or die in the attempt." 
To this the king replies: "If such be thy will, then take this armor, 
which once belonged to King Axayacatl, the golden device teocuitla- 
tontec with the tlauhquechol bird upon it and the broad wooden sword 




Fig. 7. The god Xipe's dress and shield. 

with broad obsidian blades " (Pues que asi lo quereis, tomad estas armas 
que fueron del rey Axayacatl, una divisa de oro llamado teocuitla ton- 
tec con una ave en cima de el tlauhquechol y un espadarte ancho maac 
cuahuitl de ancha navaja fuerte). "' 

Now it is indeed this Xipe armor in which we see King Axayacatl 
represented here in the cut from the Cozcatzin codex, as well as in the 
Bilimec picture. This is most plainly apparent in the human skin, 
the hands of which hang down over the king's wrists, the feet forming 
a sort of cuff over the ankles. So also the wholly un-Mexican feather 
skirt, almost like a theatric costume, which surrounds the hips of the 
Bilimec warrior, the tzapocueitl, is a part of the Xipe dress. This Xipe 
petticoat is made of feathers, running into points and overlapping each 
other like tiles. Likewise the tiger-skin scabbard with which the obsi- 
dian sword is provided in both pictures points to Xipe. In other par- 
ticulars the dress differs in no small measure from that of representa- 



a Tezozomoc, Cr6nica Mexicana, chap. 91. 



selee] 



ANCIENT MEXICAN FEATHEE OKNAMENTS 



63 



tions of this deity hitherto known. The god usually wears on his head 
the yopitzontli, a pointed crown made of the rose-colored feathers of 
the spoonbill, with fluttering- ribbons, forked like a swallow's tail. 
Axayacatl, however, is usually represented in the Cozcatzin codex with 
the xiuhuitzontli, the turquoise mosaic headband of Mexican kings, 
and the Bilimec warrior wears the quetzallalpiloni, the fillet with quet- 
zal-feather tassels. The plume which in both figures of Axayacatl 
(figure 6) rises behind the shield is likewise nothing else than an essen- 
tial part of the royal Mexican dress. It belongs, as a tuft, to the 
machoncotl, the shell bracelet which the king wore on his upper arm 
(compare the picture in the atlas of Duran). 

Yellow or Green. Blue, 

brown. 




Fig. 8. Disks from Mexican codices. 

Xipe's shield is the tlauhteuilacachiuhqui, a round shield covered 
with the rose-colored feathers of the spoonbill, showing concentric 
circles of darker tint on its surface. It is not infrequently bisected 
vertically, in which case one half is divided by an oblique line into a 
larger lower and a smaller upper panel. The former has a tiger- skin 
design, the latter the figure of an emerald in a blue field, or one trav- 
ersed by wavy lines (see 5, figure 7). I foi'merly explained the emerald 
as a mirror. This is not quite correct, although in the drawing of both 
(mirror and emerald) the same fundamental principle of the glittering 
disk throwing rays in all (four) directions is expressed. See a, figure 8, 



64 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull.28 

where 1, 2, 3, and 4 are taken from the manuscripts, and in fact from 
hieroglyphs whose phonetic value is known, while 5, which occurs on 
a beautiful cla}^ vessel found in the vicinity of Tlaxcala, with tiger 
and snake heads, a bundle of spears, and a feather ball, is perhaps only 
meant to represent the fiery luminous disk in general. The emerald 
in a watery field is to be read chalchiuh-atl. This may mean, in 
general, the ''precious fluid"; but it is more probably the same as 
chalchiuh-uitz-atl, the "precious water flowing in penance"— that 
is, the sacrificial blood, the blood. Indeed, upon the beautiful feather 
mantle belonging to the Uhde collection in the Royal Museum of Eth- 
nology we see the emerald above, on a bright green field, and below it 
a stream of blood with a skull on its surface. These characteristic 
symbols, which are seen on Xipe's shield, on the Chimalli stone from 
Cuernavaca (J, figure T). and also, although only indicated, on the 
shield borne by Motecuhzoma dressed as Xipe («, figure 7), are wholly 
wanting in the Axayacatl disguised as Xipe of the Cozcatzin codex 
and in the Bilimec warrior. In both an arm is painted on the surface 
of the shield. This is not very common as a shield emblem. And the 
agreement upon this point, in conjunction with the identity of the 
devices on the back, is a striking proof in favor of the theory that 
the painter of the Bilimec picture and the artist of the Cozcatzin codex 
had the same original or, at least, the same tradition in mind. 

In the Sahagun manuscript of the Academia de la Historia a shield 
with a drawing of a hand under the name macpallo chimalli is repre- 
sented among the shields of chiefs and warriors of lower rank. But 
this name does not explain the meaning of the emblem. On the other 
hand, I find the shield with the hand on a beautifully drawn colored 
page in the Aubin-Goupil collection, which the publisher, Eugene 
Boban, describes as " worship of Tonatiuh (the sun), a document relating 
to the theogony and astronomy of the ancient Mexicans", and which, as 
he explains, perhaps represents looking up at an eclipse of the sun.« 
This cut reminds us, by the style of painting, of the Vienna manuscript, 
and originated somewhere near the Olmeca Uixtotin Mixteca. The 
paintings are done on a piece of leather, which is covered with a kind 
of white stucco, such as we find in the Mixtec manuscripts of the 
Philipp J. Becker and Dorenberg collections. The sheet is a repre- 
sentation of the tonalamatl in five, instead of four, directions. 

The tonalamatl divisions in question are not, strange to say, desig- 
nated by the initial days, but by two dates, which, as it seems, repre- 
sent the name hieroglyphs of the divinities which adorn this division, 

a A copy, and that a very bad one, of this was made by Le6n y Gama, in which the middle part is 
restored, doubtless incorrectly, as may be clearly seen in several preserved portions. This copy 
was reproduced by Brantz Mayer (" Mexico as it was", etc., New York, 1844) as the upper side of a 
buried stone found in Mexico, which was said to have served for the sacriflcio gladiatorio. This 
copy is also given by Chavevo in "MC^xico & travcs de los siglos", v. 1, as " Piedra policroma del sa- 
criflcio gladiatorio ' ' . 



seler] 



ANCIENT MEXICAN FEATHER ORNAMENTS 



65 



one of which is combined with the numeral 1 and the other with the 
numeral 5. The five dates with the numeral 1 and the five with 
the numeral 5 are just 51 days apart. And these five times 51 inter- 
mediate da3^s are marked on the sheet by small circles in the circum- 
ference of the five divisions. Here we find a male and a female deity 
placed opposite to each other in the first (upper right) division, which 
is shown to belong- to the region of the east by the drawing of the 
heavens with the image of the sun upon it and, moreover, by a rising 







Fig. 9. Mexican shields. 

sun {h, figure 8). Beside the latter stands ce Mazatl ("one deer"), as 
the name hieroglyph of the day. Beside the former (c, figure 8) as name 
hieroglyph of the day is macuilli Cuetzpalin ("five lizard"). The 
former god, whom I must take, for various reasons, to be the same as 
Xolotl in the Borgian codex, page 29 {a, figure 9), wears on his left arm 
a shield, which has a hand as its emblem, and the ends of his loin cloth 
are also painted with large black hands. Xolotl is a figure which orig- 
inated in southern regions, and may possibly represent fire rushing down 
from heaven or light flaming up in the heavens. In the manuscripts 
7238— No. 28—05 5 



66 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

the setting sun, devoured by the earth, is opposed to him, similarly as 
the sun god is opposed to the death god. He may perhaps be described 
as a sun god of southern tribes (Zapotecs?). In the Mexican legend 
he appears as the representative of human sacrifice and as the god of 
monstrosities, perhaps identical with Nauauatzin, the "poor leper", 
who leaps into the flaming fire, sacrificing himself, in order that he may 
rise again as the sun in the firmament. The Xolotl head (quaxolotl) 
is therefore one of the most prominent warrior devices." Xolotl is 
doubtless a kindred figure to the god Xipe, and his home should be 
sought in the immediate vicinity of Xipe's home. The shield with the 
human arm as its emblem, which is worn by Axayacatl of the Cozcat- 
zin codex and by the Bilimec warrior, is therefore hardly to be regarded 
as an irregularity or as anything contradictory to the former costume. 

I now come to the device on the back, the remarkable standard, which 
von Hochstetter has used to interpret the Viennese ornament. For 
the sake of clearness I have drawn it once more from the Cozcatzin 
codex as c, figure 9, and contrasted it with the Bilimec warrior, d. 
Here, first of all, we should consider the framework, from which the 
standard apparently rises. It is obvious that it is not a house, as von 
Hochstetter and Mrs Nuttall assumed, and as Doctor Uhle finally 
"proved". 

We grant Doctor Uhle, to be sure, that the "dark distinguishable 
door and window openings " in the small Bilimec picture might lead him 
astray. In other respects the frame on the Bilimec warrior resembles a 
Mexican house as little as possible. On the contrary, that the object in 
question is a genuine framework carried on the back is clearly shown 
by the straps crossing over the breast of the figures in the Cozcatzin 
codex. But what kind of a framework can it be? Of course, it has 
nothing to do with the ladderlike carrying frame (cacaxtli), to which 
devices for the back are fastened elsewhere. I hesitate between two 
theories. The most natural conjecture would be to consider it only 
an ill-drawn ueuetl, a drum, such as King Nezaualcoyotl wears in J.* 

a See Zeitschrift flir Ethnologic, 1891, v. 23, p. 127. 

6 Singular conflicts have arisen in regard to this portrait. It belongs, with three others, to a manu- 
script which is ascribed to the historian Don Fernando Alva de Ixtlilxochitl, a decendant of Tetz- 
cocanic kings; later it doubtless came into the hands of the learned Jesuit Don Carlos de Siguenza y 
Gongora with all Ixtlilxochitl's possessions, and now forms a part of the Aubin-Goupil collection. At 
the time that it was in Siguenza's hands, the Neapolitan traveler, Gemelli Carreri, visited Mexico 
and copied these four portraits, with other parts of the manuscripts, to use in the account of his travels. 
These four portions represent, as the legends accompanying them state, the Tetzcocanic kings 
Nezaualcoyotl and Nezaualpilli and two Tetzcocanic nobles (tribal chiefs ?), named Tocuepotzin and 
Quauhtlatzocuilotzin. But Gemelli Carreri classed these with a fifth portrait, which, according to 
Boturini, also represents King Nezaualpilli, and gave them the names of the Mexican kings Tizoc, 
Axayacatl, Auitzotl, Motecuhzoma, and Quauhtemoc. But it happened that in the first Neapolitan edi- 
tion of his "Giro del mundo " (Naples, 1699-1701), the original, correct name (Nezaualcoyotl) was left 
attached to the second figure. In later editions (Venice, 1719; Paris, 1719) the list of Mexican kings is 
complete. Kingsborough's five portraits are reproduced from the first Neapolitan edition, and I 
owe it to this circum.stance that 1 was enabled to give King Nezaualcoyotl {b, fig. 9) his true name in 
my work. 



SELER] 



ANCIENT MEXICAN FEATHER OENAMENTS 



67 



For such an object, the yopiueuetl, is actually a part of Xipe's 
costume. 

In the drawing of the Cozcatzin codex the lower appendages may 
very well represent the feet of the ueuetl. The dotted upper portions 
maybe meant for a tiger skin— such, for instance, as serves in the 
Borgian codex, page 55, as a drumskin for the ueuetl beaten by the 
coyote-eared god represented there. To be sure, the square form of 
the framework contradicts this theory, for the ueuetl is usually drawn 
round, cylindric (see figure 10). If we reject this interpretation, we 
can conjecture that it may be a quetzal comitl, a feather basket, which 
Tezcatlipoca and other gods are often represented wearing on their 
backs. 

. The handle of the standard, which rises from this framework, in 
the Cozcatzin codex is apparently dotted, like the wooden sword 
which the king holds in his hand. We must suppose that the handle 
was also meant to be represented as covered with tiger skin. This, I 
think, is the case with the Bilimec warrior. The handle of his stand- 
ard is composed of three per- 
pendicular lines. Between two 
of them we see a diagonal strip- 
ing, which led Mrs Nuttall to 
read the mecatl here as ' ' rope". 
I think this diagonal striping, 
like that on the Xipe shield {h, 
%ure 7), is meant to express 
the hairy belly of the tiger, 
which should be indicated on the right hand, between the other two 
vertical stripes, by spots, but was omitted in the original from which 
the painter worked by an oversight such as often occurs in the 
manuscripts. 

Lastly, the fan-shaped ornament Avhich is fastened to this handle is 
identical in character in both illustrations, except that in the Bilimec 
warrior {d, figure 9) an arrow is added to the base. But this can scarcely 
have any special meaning. Perhaps it is only meant to accentuate the 
reed frame which sei'ves to support the ornament. 

How, then, are we to interpret the device worn by King Axayacatl 
in the Cozcatzin codex and by the Bilimec warrior? 

It may be accepted as a matter of course that it is only a further 
completion of Xipe attributes. Those who are influenced by Mrs 
Nuttall's interpretation of the Vienna ornament may be led to con- 
jecture that it is Xipe's headdress borne upon the pole, just as we 
actually find the pointed Uaxtec cap, which is commonlv the actual 
head covering, also fastened on a frame as a device for the back. « But 
Xipe's feather headdress, at least in so far as we may conclude from 

"See Zeitschrift fiir Ethnologic, 1891, v. 23, pp. 132, 151. 





Fig. 10. Mexican drums (ueuetl). 



68 BUREAU OV AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

existing illustrations, was of a different form (see h, figure 7). From the 
arrangement of the whole ornament it also seems to me, as von Hoch- 
stetter asserts for the Vienna ornament, that it is based upon the 
idea of a bird swooping down from above with outspread wings, the 
middle, higher, upright part representing the tail, the side parts the 
wings, while head and beak are not indicated in the drawings in ques- 
tion. The idea that the Deity came down from heaven in the form of 
a bird is a widely spread conception that plays an important part in 
the mythologies of Central American races. From the Xipe dress of 
the Mexican kings, which I have described in my earlier article," it 
follows that the god was regarded in three forms: as the red god (hav- 
ing the color of the tlauhquecholli, the roseate spoonbill), as the blue god 
(of the color of the xiuhtototl, the blue cotinga), and as a tiger (jaguar, 
ocelotl), probably corresponding to the three regions (heaven, earth, 
and underworld) or the three elements (fire, water, and earth). These 
are, moreover, the same three colors or variations represented on his 
tripartite shield described above. 

In the manuscripts Xipe himself is usually represented in one form 
only, as the red god; just as Ixcozauhqui, the fire god of Tlatelolco,, 
only appears in the manuscripts in one form, as the burning, devour- 
ing fire, although he, too, as we know from the description of his fes- 
tival, was represented in twofold form, as the light-blue one with the 
turquoise and emerald mask and as the burning one with the mask of 
red shell plates and black tezcapoctli. On the other hand, we find the 
god Tezcatlipoca represented in the manuscripts now as the red one 
and again as the black one, and as both of these— for instance, in the 
Borgian codex, page 18— placed together. It is worthy of note that the 
red Tezcatlipoca (Tlatlauhqui Tezcatlipoca) is not only given as one of 
the names of the god Xipe, but that occasionally also, just where Xipe 
should be drawn, a red (tlatlauhqui) Tezcatlipoca is drawn instead, as 
in the Borgian codex, page 28, with the fifteenth day sign (quauhtli, 
"eagle''). The manuscripts originating in more southern regions, 
Zapoteca and Mixteca, seem to be more authoritative than the genuine 
Mexican ones in regard to the representations of the deities in ques- 
tion. Among the former, the manuscript preserved in the Vienna 
library is the most important. In the first part of this w^e find the 
god Xipe in his classic form, clad in the fiayed human skin, and des- 
ignated by the date chicome Quiauitl, "seven rain". As in the Bor- 
gian codex we have the red and the black Tezcatlipoca, so too we 
have here a red and a l)lack god placed together, side by side or one 
above the other. But in this case the conception is quite different. 
The strangely formed face shows a tiger's jaw introduced into a human 
face and eyes surrounded l)y serpentine lines. The red variant of 
this god, designated by the date naui Mazatl, "four deer", is dressed 

a See Zeitschrift fur Ethnologic, 1891, v. 23, pp. 133, 134. 



SELEK] ANCIENT MEXICAN FEATHER ORNAMENTS 69 

in the flaming garb of an eagle-like bird, dj^ed with the color of the 
tlauhquechol, or has the' head of a similar bird as a helmet mask 
(5, d, and e, figure 11, right). The other, distinguished by the date 
naui Miquiztli, "four death", is clad in a similar but blackish bird 
garment or wears its head as a helmet mask («, c, and e, left). 

I believe that I am right in recognizing in these two figures the 
southern counterparts of the red and the black Tezcatlipoca. The 
same idea certainly underlies them both, and I am even tempted to see 
a reference to Tezcatlipoca in the footprints, which are given under a, 
and in the cobweb under both personages in e. Tezcatlipoca descended 
from heaven by a spider's thread.^ And lo-peyo ("the face or image 
of the moon") is the Zapotec name for cobweb. I therefore conclude 
that the bird dress dyed with the color of the tlauhquechol was equiva- 
lent among southern races to a disguise of the red Tezcatlipoca— that 
is, Xipe. 

In the little Bilimec picture there is painted on the surface of the 
fanlike ornament, which is carried on a pole, a broad stripe of deep- 
rose color and also one of white; that is, the colors of the roseate 
spoonbill (tlauhquecholli) and the colors of Xipe. In this fanlike 
ornament, I repeat, I find the idea of a bird swooping down with out- 
spread wings distinctly expressed. 

If these facts are taken into consideration, and if we further con- 
sider that in dangerous military enterprises Mexican commanders in 
chief were accustomed to put on the Xipe dress, formerly worn by 
King Axayacatl (see the passage quoted above from Tezozomoc, chap- 
ter 91), all must, I think, admit that it is not an idle conjecture if I 
regard the device with which King Axayacatl is depicted in our draw- 
ing as a direct illustration of the description which is given in Tezo- 
zomoc's (Jronica Mexicana of the armor which Motecuhzoma wore at 
the storming of Nopallan. We read there (chapter 81) that Motecuh- 
zoma awaited his men armado todo de armas, con una divisa muy 
rica de plumeria, y encima una ave, la pluma de ella muy rica y relum- 
brante, que llaman tlauhquecholtontec: iba puesto de modo que pare- 
cia que iba volando, y debajo un atamborcillo dorado muy resplan- 
deciente, trenzado con una pluma arriba de la ave arriba dicha, y una 
rodela dorada de los costeanos muy f uerte, y una sonaja omichicahuaz, 
y un espadarte de f uerte nabaja ancha y cortadora ("fully armed, 
with a very rich device of feathers, and above a bird, its plume very 
rich and resplendent, which they call tlauhquecholtontec: it was 
placed in such a manner that it seemed to be flying, and below a small 
drum, gilded and very shining, braided above with a feather of the 
above-mentioned bird, and a very strong shield gilded on the sides, 
and a rattle (omichicahuaz), and a big sword with a strong, wide 
cutting blade"). 



<-!■ Menclieta. 



70 



EUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



[bull. 28 




1}^ 





Frr,. 11. Tho black Kod iinil tlu' red god, from tlie Vieiina iiiaiui.ifript. 



SELER] ANCIENT MEXICAN FEATHER OENAMENTd Yl 

The meanino- of this passage can scarcely be construed otherwise 
than as a reference in this case to a combined ornament for the back, 
consisting- of a drum attached to the carrying frame at the bottom^ 
and of a bird (swooping down?) with outspread wings fastened at the 
top of the pole/' 

I am therefore doubtful, in regard to figure 6, whether I may not 
have done P. Sahagun an injustice in assuming that the passage (book 
8, chapter 9) where he states that the tlauhquecholtzontli was a device 
for the back— y trayan un plumage a cuestas que se llamaba tlauhque- 
choltzontli muy curioso ("and they carried on their backs a very 
curious plumage that was called tlauhquecholtzontli ")— was based on 
a false translation or a false application. The passage does, indeed, 
contradict book 8, chapter 12, where Sahagun says that the tlauhque- 
choltzontli is a head covering— un casquete de plumas muy coloradas, 
que se llamaban tlauhquecholtzontli,^ y al rededor del casquete una 
corona de plumas ricas y del medio de la corona salia un manojo de 
plumas bellas que Uaman quetzal, como penachos ("a helmet of col- 
ored feathers, which was called tlauhquecholtzontli, and around the 
helmet a crown of rich feathers, and from the middle of the crown 
projected a tuft of beautiful feathers which they call quetzal, like 
crests"). But the Aztec text in the latter passage does not directly 
state that the tlauhquecholtzontli was worn on the head, and in the 
former passage may possibly be understood to mean that the tlauhque- 
choltzontli, together with the drum, ueuetl, formed the back device— 
tlauhquecholtzontli tla^otlanqui quetzalli ycuecuetlacayo, yuical veuetl 
coztic teucuitlayo yn tlauiztli yn quimama mitotia ("the wig of spoon- 
bill feathers, the precious one with the waving tuft of feathers, and 
its appendix, the drum covered with gold; that is, the device [or, are 
the devices] which he wears on his back in the dance"). It is very 
possible that Father Sahagun, as was frequently the case, did not 
translate directly, but explained from circumstances known to him. 
Of course I do not now assert that the feather ornaments described 
as tzontii, "wig \ were all carried on poles. Of the next object, the 
xiuhtototzontli, the Aztec text says directly: ytzontecon conaquia 
tlatoani ("with this the king covers his head"), but it seems to me 
quite possible, as I suggested from the first,« that this ornament, like 
the Uaxtec pointed cap,^ was also sometimes worn on the head and 
sometimes borne as a device on a pole.*" 

I now return to the Vienna ornament. Mrs Nuttall's attempt to 

a. Uhle asserts, we scarcely see on what authority, that the reference here is to a stuffed bird. 

6 The word amended after the Aztec text of the passage. 

cZeitschrift fiir Ethnologic, 1889, v. 21, p. 63. 

fiZeitschrift fiir Ethnologie, 1891, v. 21, p. 132, Doctor Uhle introduces, on p. 151, an illustration from 
the Aztec text of the Florentine Sahagun manuscript where we see, side by side, the cuextecatl with 
his pointed cap on his head and a similar pointed cap, quetzalcopilli, borne on a pole upon the back. 

e Contrary to Doctor Uhle, I must say that it has never occurred to me to connect the expression 
tzontii, "hair", with patzactli, "device". I distinctly described tzontii as "feather crown", 
patzactli as "a comb-shaped device worn on the back" in my pamphlet of 1891. 



72 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



[bui^l. 28 



explain away the Bilimec picture, an attempt which must seem in the 
highest degree fantastic to all who are familiar with Mexican subjects, 
is proved by our figure 6 to be false in all its premises. So, too, is the 
argument recently set forth by Doctor Uhie, that "warriors in battle, 
who, like the Mexicans, carried their own banners, would not have car- 
ried a banner likely to prove a hindrance in battle from its size or the 
manner of carrying it'\ The Mexicans did not consider such "practi- 
cal points of view". The armor which the more prominent warriors 
assumed for battle was the dress of a deity of whose power they 
became possessed when they put on his array, and to be assured of this 
power was probably the first "practical point of view" for the Mexi- 
cans. If the costume of the god required a bird with outspread wings 




Fig. 12. Mexican feather ornaments. 

to be worn, it would have been worn without much question as to 
whether it was practical or not. As far as form is concerned, how- 
ever, the l)anner which King Axayacatl and the Bilimec warriors wore 
on their l)acks, and also the bat dancer («, figure 12) from the Duran 
Atlas (Ti-atado 2, plate S), to which 1 drew attention in my first com- 
nmnication, may of course be used for purposes of comparison in 
studying the nu^ming of the Vienna ornament quite as well as the 
headdress apanecayotl of the god Tezcatlipoca in the manuscripts in 
the Hil)lioteca Nazionale. The horseshoe-shaped curve, on which Uhle 
lays such especial stress, probably only occurs in the Vienna ornament 
in consequence of its imperfect state of preservation, the golden beak 
which originally belonged on tiip front having now disappeared. 



SELER] ANCIENT MEXICAN FEATHER ORNAMENTS 73 

We may perhaps go further. The oi-narneiit now preserved in the 
Vienna Museum was found in the Am})ra8 collection, tooether witii 
a feather ja(?ket (ain Morischor Roelvh), a feather shield (ain Kundell 
Von Roten feclern), a plume (ein morischer Feder Puschen, so aim 
Ross auf die Stirn gehort, "a Moorish plume, such as is used on the 
head of a horse"), and a feather fan (ain Wedler von Federn). The 
feather fan and feather shield were found later." All ai'e articles which 
belono-ed to the adornment of distinguished Mexican warriors. For 
the "plume, such as is worn on the head of a horse," is undoubtedly 
an aztaxelli — a plume which Mexican warriors stuck into their })ack 
tuft of hair when they joined in the dance. This plume and the feather 
fan most certainly constituted the civic dress (festive dress), the back 
device, feather jacket, and feather shield being- the military dress. If 
we continue our conjectures, we may also consider it probable that 
the Vienna ornament was a warrior's device. If this be the case, 
then the Axayacatl of the Cozcatzin codex and the Bilimec warrior 
ar-e more appropriate subjects foi- comparison than the god in the 
manuscript of the IMblioteca Nazionale. 

However, these are mere conjectures. Archeologic considerations 
do not lead to the goal. Since we are without historical proof, for the 
note in the catalogue, "ain Morischer liuet", can hardly be regarded as 
decisive, the matter must be relegated to that final resort to which, 
as I have always insisted, it properly belonged from the first— that is, 
to a study of the object itself. Von Hochstetter is the only one who 
has really studied the Vienna ornament in reference to its construc- 
tion. Mrs Nuttall only worked with a model. 

In opposition to von Hochstetter, Mrs Nuttall maintains that in his 
experiments with the original the crease in the stiffening prevented 
him from recognizing the possibility of its use as a headdress. We 
grant Mrs Nuttall that the limitation of the transverse stiffening to 
the side parts indicates a bending of these latter; but this is also quite 
compatible with von Ho(;hstetter's interpretation. The idea of a bird 
with outspread wings douljtless underlies the ornament. This kind of 
stiffening made a movement of the wings possible. Lastly, Mrs Nuttall 
claims for her theoi-y that, according to von Hochstetter's own state- 
ment, there was a pocket or hood-shaped opening large enough to 
admit a head between the nets which formed the foundation of the ' 
front and back of the ornament. But here again von Hochstetter 
gives a perfectly satisfactory explanation, since he says that in his 
opinion this pocket merely served to receive the upper part of the 
carrying pole. While these conditions offer no grounds which oblige 
us to accept Mrs Nuttall's theory, there are yet two facts which, in 
my opinion, Mrs Nuttall has not considered sufficiently. One is the 
defective condition of the ornament. According to the oldest catalogue 

f'See Fraiiz Heger. Antifilon dcs KTmi^iiflicJi-KHiserliohcn Natnrhistori.sfhen Hofmuseums v 7 
r-t. 4. ' ■ ' 



74 BUREAU OF AMERICAJSr ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

note there was a golden beak upon the front. Since we do not know 
how this was applied, or whether it covered the entire width of the 
front or not, all inquiry as to the possibility of its having been bound 
around the head is useless and really proves nothing. Von Hochstetter 
has further established that the back of the ornament was covered 
with feathers, which, like those on the front, were fastened to a line 
netting. This is intelligible if the ornament is flat. In a crown bound 
upon the head it would have been, to say the least, superfluous; but in 
this case we would, above all, expect to find a contrivance of some sort 
on the back of the net to regulate the folding while it is being bound 
about the head. The absence of this contravenes Mrs Nuttall's theory. 
I have not mentioned one piece which is seen on the sheet from the 
Cozcatzin codex (figure 6), that is, the large wheel-shaped ornament at 
the left on the back of the Axayacatl figure. I hold this ornament to 
be of exotic origin, an ornament adopted with the Xipe costume. We 
are confronted with the question as to how this ornament should be 
worn, whether in a perpendicular position fastened to a pole, like a kind 
of movable comb, or whether we should imagine it as a huge horizontal 
collar falling over the back. I am inclined to accept the latter theory, 
for similar horizontal collar-shaped feather ornaments were common 
in the tierra caliente, and were worn especially in the Pacific tierra 
caliente (see h, figure 12 from the Codex Telleriano-Remensis, which 
represents a member of the iinconquered tribes of Jalisco, against 
whom Pedro de Alvarado took the field). At Oaxaca I saw a pair of 
clay figures (man and woman), coming from the district of Zimat- 
lan. which combined with a huge aureole-shaped feather headdress 
another feather ornament worn across the back of the loins like a 
collar (see c, figure 12). I am the more inclined to use these figures for 
purposes of comparison, because both wore a mask on the middle of 
the girdle, and this is a peculiar feature found in the Xolotl(?) with 
the macpallo chimalli {h, figure 8), already used by me for comparison, 
as well as in all the other male and female figures on this sheet. 

The question of feather ornaments is a very complicated one and their 
meaning not easily explained, because these insignia and the whole 
politico-hierarchic system of the Mexicans are connected with their 
religious ideas and their cult, resulting from many centuries of 
development, amid perpetual contact and interchange with kindred 
and foreign cultures. The basis for the Mexican territory, taken in the 
strictest sense, must always be the Sahagun chapter, from which I 
quoted in my previous treatise its most essential pictorial and other 
contents. I have thus far found little to alter in what I stated then. 
Our field of vision would be greatly broadened if equally reliable and 
equally complete sources in regard to the same conditions existed con- 
cerning the other nations of Mexico. Unfortunately it is hardly to be 
expected that these will ever be found. 



ANTIQUITIES OF GUATEMALA 



EDTJAI^r) SELER 



75 



ANTIQUITIES OF GUATEMALA" 



By Eduakd Seler 



In the admirably written book, Guatemala, in which Doctor Stoll 

describes the impressions and experiences of a live years' sojourn in 

the reg-ion of this most important of the Central American Republics, 

the author in several places mentions the Indian burial mounds, which 

are scattered over the country from the plains in the neighborhood of 

the present capital up to the tierra f ria of Tecpam and the highlands 

and down again into the tierra caliente of Retal huleu and Soconusco. 

In this connection he adds the remark that a systematic search of these 

mounds in various geographically separated localities would contribute 

much to increase our knowledge of the primitive people of Guatemala. 

There were, to be sure, even then collections of antiquities in 

Guatemala, of which the most important was that of the Sociedad 

Economica in the capital. At the American Historical Exhibition in 

Madrid in 1892 Guatemala was represented by a series of beautiful 

vessels, among which were especially conspicuous the toothed vessels 

of Amatitlan, the sacrificial vessels of the Usumacinta, to be further 

discussed below, and beautiful vessels of the Maya type, with figures 

and hieroglyphs partly painted and partly wrought in relief. All 

these objects, however, were obtained through occasional finds, and 

accurate information was lacking in regard to the origin of many of 

them. There was even exhibited in their midst the Egyptian scara- 

baeus which Stoll mentions in the collection of the Sociedad Economica, 

said to have been found in the lake of Amatitlan. 

Consul-General F. C. Sarg, who formerly lived in Coban, but who 
now resides in the capital, has likewise made quite extensive collections 
of antiquities, and some years ago a number of smaller antiquities from 
the Vera Paz region came, through him, into the possession of the 
Royal Museum. 

Recently, however, that for which Stoll (in 1886) expressed a vague 
hope has been actually begun. Excavations have been undertaken 
systematically in at least two regions— in the neighborhood of Copan 

aVeroffentlichungen ausdem Koniglichen Museum fur Volkerkunde, Berlin, 1895. 

77 



78 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull.28 

under the direction of the Peabody Museum in Boston, and in Alta Vera 
Paz by the private enterprise of Mr Erwin P. Dieseldorff and Dr Karl 
Sapper. 

1 have nothing to report here concerning results achieved by the 
Americans in Copan, and full reports concerning them have not been 
made known. But the Royal Museum, on the contrary, has been able 
satisfactorily to open communications with Messrs Dieseldorff and 
Sapper and has received rich material from both gentlemen, especially 
abundant from the latter. Mr Dieseldorff has himself begun to report 
the results of his excavations in the Transactions of the Berlin Society 
for Anthropology, Ethnology, and Archeology.^ Doctor Sapper has 
presented to the Royal Museum his share of the results of the excava- 
tions undertaken in cooperation with Mr Dieseldortf and what he has 
been able to collect on his geologic expeditions in Guatemala. In 
addition to the reports of this traveler, which form the second article 
of this number, I will discuss some important specimens of this collec- 
tion and compare them with such material as the Royal Museum already 
possesses in earlier collections from the same region. 

Beginning in the north, we have before us in the frontier tracts 
near Yucatan and the mountainous regions of Alta Vera Paz the 
interesting territory to whose peoples, in pre-Spanish times, an 
extended maritime intercourse was unknown, which then formed 
the great highroad of traffic and travel, and which also had doubtless 
been the ancient highway of migratory nations. Now, however, this 
region is largely waste and desolate, uninhabited, and covered with 
primeval forests. Concerning the ancient conditions of this territory, 
which are obscure in many respects, I wish to make some introductory 
observations. 

Cortes passed through this territory in his famous expedition to 
Honduras in 1525.* He found his way as far as the Usumacinta with 
the help of charts which the aborigines of Coatzacualco had given him. 
On the other side of the Usumacinta he came to a territory called 
Acalan, whose inhabitants on one side carried on an uninterrupted 
traffic by boat with Tabasco and Xicalango and on the other side had 
their factories on the Golfo Dulce, on the boundaries of Honduras. 
There Cortes received more reliable news of the Spaniards settled on 
the Golfo Dulce, to see whom he had undertaken his expedition. On 
a piece of cloth they painted for him all the rivers, lakes, and swamps 
he would have to cross on his overland journey to the Golfo Dulce. 
In a similar way Canek, the cacique of Peten, the island city of the 
Lagoon of Itza, proved to be accurately informed. He, too, had his 

n Zeitschrift fiir Ethnologie, 1893, v. 25, pp. 574 and 548; same journal, 1894, v. 26, pp. 372 and 576. 

(' Cortes has himself given a description of this expedition in his fifth letter. Bernal Diaz, who took 
part in this expedition and describes it very thoroughly, differs from Cortes in some details, especially 
in a certain place in the order of events. Still, Cortes is here the more authentic source, for he wrote 
much earlier and had naturally much better opportunity to collect reliable information. 



SELER] ANTIQUITIES OF GUATEMALA 79 

factories and his cacao plantations in the districts which border on the 
Golfo Dulce, and on the route thither he maintained shelter houses 
for his native traders and for foreign merchants who came that way. 
As to the ethnologic relations of this ancient district of intercom- 
munication and migration, the people of Taica, as Cortes spells it— that 
is, Tahitza — the inhabitants of Peten, the island jo-r' i^oxw, were pure 
Mayas, who had emigrated from Yucatan, and were doubtless later 
intruders, and hence continually at war with their various neighbors. 
The location of the inhabitants of the region called " Acalan" is more 
uncertain. The name, which is occasionally spelled Aculan, but 
probably by error, is Mexican, and means "land of the boats" (Acallan, 
as the correct form sounds). Furthermore, two of the cities in this 
territory had Mexican names. The first, Tizatepetl, means ' ' the white 
earth mountain" or "village of the white earth". The name may be 
preserved in the word Sahab, by which a place and a river in this 
neighborhood are called to-day, Zahcab being the word used in the 
different Maya languages to express the Mexican word ti^atl. The 
name of the second city, which is spelled Teutiercas, Teutiiaccaa, and 
(by Gomara) Teuticcac, is probably to be read Teotl icac, "the upright 
standing god".« There they worshiped a female deity to whom 
maidens were sacrificed. The name of the capital of Acalan alone, 
Izancanac, belongs to a strange idiom, and, as it seems, to a Maya 
language. The first part of the word is known to this day as the 
name of a little lagoon on the north of the Rio de la Pasion, where 
Doctor Sapper found a settlement of Lacandon Indians. * It also seems 
possible to explain by a Maya dialect^ the title of the prince of Acalan, 
Apaspolon (or Apoxpalon, as Gomara spells the word). The dialect' 
however, can not now be determined. '^ 

The third territory mentioned in Cortes's letter, that lying between 
Acalan and Tahitza, was generally called by a Mexican word, Mazatlan, 
that is, " the deer land." Cortes, however, several times gave Quiacho 
or Quiache « as a synonym for this word. It is doubtless the same name 
as Quehache, given in the historical work by Villagutierre y Sotomayor, 
by which is designated a branch of the Maya found at the end of the 

a Vatun Chu, idolo derecho, is mentioned as a place of worship in tlie territory of the Chols. See 
below. The name of the chief god of the Quiches, Tohil C'abauil, might be translated in the same 
way. 

6 Ausland, 1891, p. 892. 

Perhaps Ahpo xbalon or Ahpo xbolon. Ahpo or Ahpop is a customary expression in the 
Guatemala language for "lord" and Xbalon, or Xbolon, which means "Mistress of the nine," 
was, perhaps, the name of the goddess of the country. Of. the Maya god Ah Bolon Tzacab, the 
"Lord of nine generations" or "Lord of the nine medicines." 

din their intercourse with Cortes and the Spaniards they appear to have used the Mexican idiom, 
with which they were probably familiar on account of their active trade with Tabasco and Xicalango' 
and which likewise Marina, Cortes's interpretress, spoke fluently. Where Bernal Diaz repeats the 
information which the people of Acalan gave the Spaniards, he used exactly the words acalea (that 
IS, Mexican acalli, "ship")-que en su lengua acales llaman a los navios-and teules (that is, 
Mexican tecutli, or teuctli, " prince ")— que asi nos llamaban a los soldados. 

e other copies give Quiatleo and Quiatha, but they are surely incorrect variations. 



80 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

seventeenth century in the savannas north of the Paso San Andres, 
neighbors of the Ah Itza, or Itzaex. The Maya word queh, "deer", 
is contained in the name; it is ahuost a direct translation of the Mexi- 
can mazateca, or mazatlan. That we have to do with a race closely 
akin to the Maya also appears from the two names of cities, already men- 
tioned, which Cortes left us. Tiac would mean in Maya "city of the 
tortoise " and Yasuncabil something like "green earth ". « The fortifi- 
cations skillfully constructed by the inhabitants of this territory prove 
that they had to protect themselves against constant hostile disturb- 
ances. Bernal Diaz believes that he heard the word " Lacantun" used 
as the name of these enemies. It will, however, remain undecided 
whether this name, which was familiar in the place where he wrote, 
did not come into his mind or to his pen by error The description of 
the fortified city of the Mazateca in the middle of a lagoon reminds 
one very strongly of the city built on a rock in the Laguna del 
Lacandon, which the expedition of Licenciado Pedro Ramirez de 
Quihones conquered and destroyed,^ 

There still remain the ancient inhabitants of the mountains to the 
south and above the road traveled by Cortes. Those to the west 
were designated the Lacandons, and those in the country about the 
Rio de la Pasion, to the east, were called Chols. 

. Lacandon is more a geographic than an ethnographic designation. 
And, if we are to believe Doctor Berendt,^^ at least two diflierent races 
must be included under this name even to-day. On the east are the 
Maya-speaking Lacandons, who live scattered on the lower Rio de la 
Pasion, and also west of the Usumacinta, on the Lacan ha, the river 
of Lacan, that is, the Rio Lacandon, and on the west. the Lacandons 
speaking the Putum, or Choi, language, whose chief locations are said 
to be found in Pet ha, in Chiapas. This account, which was repeated 
by. both Stoll and Sapper in earlier articles, is now contradicted by 
Doctor Sapper, who recently traveled through the boundary region 
between Guatemala and Chiapas. He informed me by letter that he 
had met Mayas speaking Lacandon on the road from Tenosique to 
Ococingo, and that there were no western Lacandons speaking Choi, 
and that the ancient Lacandons, who were for a long time the terror 
of the Spanish settlements in Chiapas, Guatemala, and on the lower 
Usumacinta, spoke, in part at least, the Maya proper, as appears from 
a few words which have come down to us. Against these Lacandons 
a succession of costly campaigns was made, almost entirely in vain. 
Thus the Lacandons who met the column of Melchior Rodriguez, in 
1695, when it was advancing from Itzatan toward the north and 

alt ia interesting that the name which Gomara mentions for the second of these two cities, Xuuca 
Cahitl, is doubtless, at least in its first part, a translation into Mexican, for xoxouhca in Mexican 
means the same as the Maya yax, that is, " green " . 

'' Villngntierre y Sotoniayor, v. 1, chap. 12. 

cBerendt, Report of Explorations in Central .Vmerica, 1867, p. 415. 



SELER] ANTIQUITIES OF GUATEMALA 81 

northeast to the Rio Lacandon, called to the Spaniards in pure Maya: 
Utz im pusical, "my heart is g'ood" — that is, "g-ood friend, we are 
.harmless people". « 

The Chols, on the other hand, who still dwelt in the mountain forests 
at the source of the Rio de la Pasion as far as the Sarstun at the 
beg-inning- and at the end of the seventeenth centurj^ having- a numeri- 
cal strength of 30,000 souls, were genuine Chols. To them belonged 
the Menche,* the Axoye, and other lesser tribes; and the Mo pan must 
also have been ver}^ closely akin to them. These Chols not only had 
the same name as the tribe still existing- to-day in the north, in the 
neighborhood of Palenque, but also proved their kinship by certain 
peculiarities of language, especially the change of c to ch.^ This 
fact is the more important because it seems established according- to 
the notes made by Doctor Sapper ^^ that the Chorti, the tribe whose 
descendants are settled to-da}^ in the neighborhood of Copan, likewise 
belong- to the same family.' Thus, in fact, we have in that ancient 
thoroughfare a broad zone of related tribes, into which the Mayas 
wedged themselves only on one side, in the north, from Yucatan, 
and on the other side, in the south, in the valley of the Rio Grande, or 
Motagua river, the Mexican branch of the Pipils conquered a place for 
themselves. Based on ethnologic conditions the kinship is apparent 
in the architectural style of the magnificent structures at the beginning 
and at the end of this great highway of nations — on the one hand, those 
of Palenque, and, on the other, those of Quirigua and Copan, to which 
in the intermediate region are joined the ruins of Menche Tinamit and 
some others less well known, Maudslay, in a short paper which he 
wrote for Nature in 1892, calls attention to the fact that the colossal 
figures on the stelte of Copan represent female deities exclusively, in 
contrast to the Yucatec reliefs, on which male and warlike forms pre- 
dominate. In this connection I would like to point out that the prin- 
cipal deity worshiped in the territory of Acalan was likewise a female; 
that the next largest city, which stood farther down on the Usumacinta, 
bears the name Ciuatecpan (Zagoatezpan, Ciguatepecad), "palace of 
the woman (the goddess)"; that, likewise, the mightiest city in the 
center of Tabasco, which Cortes and Bernal Diaz call Zagoatan, 
Zaguatan, is actually called Ciuatlan, "the city of the woman (the 

n Villagutierre y Sotomayor, v. 4, p. 262. 

ftMencht' was actually only a certain village at the foot of the north side of the holy mountain 
Vatunchu, and on the left bank of the river Cacuen; bat Remesal mentions all the villages under the 
collective name of Menche, which later in Villagutierre are called villages of the Chols. 

(•This change of c into ch appears in different names, for example, Vatun-Chu=idolo derecho, 
where Chu stands for Maya Ku; and also in a specimen of the language transmitted to us in Vil- 
lagutierre, V. 3, chap. 2, Chamay tzam bucana xaguil Jesu Christo tut Santa Cruz umenel ca tanal, 
muri6,estendido en su cara de este palo que se 11am la Santa Cruz Nuestra Sefior J. C. por nuestros 
pecados. 

dPetermann's Geographische Mittheilungen, 1893, p. 6. 

eThe word Chorti itself only means "the language of the Chols", as the 1 of the Choi becomes r 
in Chorti. 

7238— No. 28— 05 6 



82 BUREAU OF AMERICAlSr ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

goddess) "; and that also the only iDlace which Landa mentions on the 
Laguna de Terminos, Tixchel, "to the aged goddess", seems to have 
been a place for the worship of a female deit3^ 

Copan, Quirigua, and Palenque lie beyond the limits of the present 
treatise. Their prosperity was evidently temporary, caused by cer- 
tain trade combinations, and for a time by the resultant conditions of 
accumulated wealth and power. It had doubtless already passed away 
when Cortes entered this region. The intermediate territory was prob- 
ably always on a lower plane of governmental, social, and material 
development, although in pre-Spanish times it was never as low as it 
afterward became on account of the entire cessation of traffic and the 
subversion of all existing conditions in the surrounding regions.- As 
the above statements show, we had, then, in ancient times two nations 
existing side by side, distinct, though closely related one to the other. 
Of the two the Mayas have preserved their nationality to the present 
day, while the other, the Chols, appear to have been absorbed, partly by 
the former and partly and chiefly b}^ the neighboring Qu'ekchi. * Here, 
as in other regions, notwithstanding original difl'erences of race, sim- 
ilar conditions of environment and extensive mutual intercourse have 
produced a fairly uniform picture of civilization. This fact is at once 
seen by comparing the descriptions of Choi settlements in the north 
of Cahabon, given by the old Dominican monks, with that which Doc- 
tor Sapper gives of the Lacandons on the lower bank of the Kio de la 
Pasion. But it is also shown in several other details. At the con- 
quest of the rock city in the Laguna del Lacandon, as the chronicler 
expressly mentions, no idols whatever were found, for the Lacandons 
worshiped the sun only (el cuerpo solar), and brought their ofl'erings 
and sacrifices to the sun itself and not to any representations of it, 
difi'ering in this way ver}^ distinctly from the Itzaex and other tribes 
of those mountains, who had countless idols, .statues, and images of 
metal, stone, and wood, with many superstitious customs and diabolical 
ceremonies. * 

The same statement is made in another place concerning the Acalans 
and Lacandons. Similarly, the Dominican monks reported tht^t they 
had found no idols at all, either of stone or any other material, among 
the Chols in the north of Cahabon. Sacrifices of black wax and other 
inflammable material were made, and chickens and other birds were 
occasionally sacrificed, as well as blood, which the Indians drew from 
themselves by piercing their tongues, their ears, their temples, or the 
muscles of their arms and legs. But the Indians said that they made 
these sacrifices to the woods and the high mountains, the dangerous 
fords of the rivers, the road crossings, and the lakelike expansions of 
the rivers. In fact, the fathers found a place of sacrifice on the summit 

"Sapper, in Petermaiin's Ueographische Mittlieiliuisrt'ii. 1W13, p. S. 
'•Villagutierre y Sotomayor, v. 1, chap. 2. 



SELER] ANTIQUITIES OF GUATEMALA 83 

of the mountain over which they had to pass on their return journey, 
where a tire was evidently kept burning, fed by the wax and copal 
offerings of passers-by. There were, besides, places of worship in the 
villages, consisting only of a round structure or (in the temple or 
meetinghouse) of a couple of stones upon which the wax candles and 
the copal were burned/' In the ermita of the Lacandons Doctor 
Sapper likewise found no idols whatever, but only a " low table upon 
which wax candles appeared to have been burned" and the singular 
sacrificial vessels in which wax, copal, etc., were offered.* 

Peculiar clay vessels were found some time ago in this extensive 
region, which has lately been made more accessible by the felling of 
timber along the Usumacinta and the Rio de la Pasion. These vessels 
are distinguished by a face mask of a rather stereotyped form, which 
is placed on the rim. In the Guatemalan exhibit in Madrid there was 
a series of such vessels displayed, and their origin was given as from 
Usumacinta. The Royal Museum of Ethnology received from Consul- 
General Sarg two such vessels with a similar label, one of which is 
represented by J, ffgure 13. An exactly similar vessel is found in the 
museum at Copenhagen, said to have come from Peten {h, figure 14). 
No such vessels are known to come from other parts of Guatemala. 
The nmseum in Copenhagen possesses two similar vessels of somewhat 
varying but probably related forms {a and c, figure 14), which bear the 
general label ' ' from Tabasco ". Charnay found vessels like a, 1>, and c, 
figure 13, in great numbers in the chief temple of Menche Tinamit, near 
the idol and in almost every room.« He copies two of them, and since 
the face mask of one is distinguished from the other by a very promi- 
nent nose he supposes that these two types represent, perhaps, two 
different races. Charnay considered these vessels to be prehistoric. 
We have to thank Doctor Sapper for the knowledge that the Lacan- 
dons still make such vessels to-day and bring wax and copal to their 
gods in them. Doctor Sapper saw these vessels in the great ermita of 
the settlement of Izan, and he collected fragments of them in the 
ruins of Menche Tinamit, "where the Lacandons were accustomed to 
meet once a year to celebrate their festivals by balche feasts and pecul- 
iar ceremonies, and to offer sacrifices to their gods in various buildings, 
especially in a three-storied building distinguished by beautiful reliefs 
and a large sitting stone idol".'^ 

I have had some of the fragments which were collected by Doctor 
Sapper copied in c to/, figure 13, while a shows a specimen which was 
given to the Royal Museum from the Ecuadorian exhibit at the Colum- 
bian Exposition in Chicago, and which is evidently of similar origin. 
In the latter, as well as in the different fragments sent in by Sapper, 
thick masses of a waxy or resinous substance were found. On the 

a Remesal, v. 2, chap. 19. f Les Aneiennes Villes du Nouveau Monde, p. 384. 

feAuslarxi, iSQi.p. 893. f'Ausland, 1891, pp. 893-894. 



84 



BUREAU OB^ AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



[bull. 28 



outside, as it seems, all the pieces were orio-inally smeared over with 
a white earth, which usuall}^ nearly covered even the prominent details 
of the face mask. 

Shapes like those of the vessels represented here were naturally not 









Fk;. 13. Bowls from Guatemala. 



an original invention. One can imagine that they originated in ves- 
sels like a^ tigure 14, and that the latter shape arose from the need 
of distinguishing the back from the front. But one can also consider 
them as .survivals of whole-figure vessels, which seems to me more 



selek] 



ANTIQUITIES OF GUATEMALA 



85 



probable. The inclined position which was given to the face masks 
in the vessels of the Lacandons proves that the original shape can not 
have been an erect iig-ure like those of the Zapotec figure vessels and 
the vessels of Ranchito de las Animas. The}^ are, it would seem, more 
like the vessels represented in d^ figure 23, and «, fig'ure 24, below — 
that is, animal figures whose bodies form the hollow of the vessel. 
The human face which our vessels show might have originated as a 
substitute for the animal head. It seems more probable to me that the 
human face held in the open jaws of the animal on the vessel in d^ fig- 
ure 23, and similar ones, as well as in numerous small clay figures 
of Yucatan, in the stone monuments of Menche Tinamit, and else- 
where, has finally become predominant. This would best explain to 
me the projecting band by which the face mask of our Lacandon 
vessels is bordered above the forehead, which is wanting only in the 
mask of <?, figure 13.^' This, then, would represent what remains of 
the animal jaw, and the erect, comblike object above it the relic of a 





Fig. 14. Pottery vessels from Guatemala. 

tuft of feathers, which rises in most of these figures above the crown or 
the nostrils. The vessel shown in e^ figure 13, which, instead of the 
band above the forehead and the comblike, erect object, shows only a 
notched edge of the forehead, appears to represent the last stage of 
this development. 

1 need not especially dwell upon the fact that the face masks contain 
only things which have long since gone out of use, which the makers 
of these vessels no longer had before their eyes, and which they merely 
repeated in stereotj^Ded fashion. Neither the ear pegs, nor the knob- 
like objects resting on the cheeks (cheek pegs?), nor the knob, which is 
difficult to explain, placed above the root of the nose, nor the deep 
cuts which outline the upper lip in/", figure 13, are used to-day among 
the Lacandons. Like the Lacandons themselves, these vessels, fossil- 
ized, as it were, represent the remains of a long-vanished epoch of 
civilization. 

The territories of the Chols and the Lacandons would to-day adjoin, 
on the south, the lands of the Qu'ekchi and their kin, the Pokonchi. 

a In a, fig. 13, the whole of the part referred to is broken off. 



86 



BUREAU OF AMERICAlSr ETHNOLOGY 



[BULL. 28 



These are the cultivated regions of the Vera Paz, open to Christian 
civilization and populated to this day to some extent. Here we find in 
the west, in the valley of the Chixoy, the ruins of Salinas de los Nueve 
Cerras and those of Chama. Doctor Sapper is inclined to ascribe both 
these to the Chols, without of course expressing more than a supposi- 
tion on this question. 

From the former place, where, according to Doctor Sapper's state- 
ment, a pretty sculpture, with some hieroglyphs, was found in a mound 
having well-preserved burial chambers, the Sapper collection contains 
two grinding slabs, two stone rings, a pottery vessel, and three pottery 
plates. The grinding slabs are of natural gneiss or mica schist of slight 
thickness (maximum, 3 cm.). The larger of the two has a rubbing sur- 
face of .52 by 35 cm. Of the two stone rings, the inner diameter of the 








c d e f 

Fig. 1.1 Pottery vessels and other articles from a Guatemalan monnd. 

larger is from 4 to 5 cm., and the ring is 5i cm. broad and 5 cm. thick; 
the other has an inner diameter of 2^ to 3i cm.; the breadth of the 
ring is 3 cm., and the thickness somewhat over 3 cm. The larger one 
is smooth on the upper and lower surfaces and rough on the circumfer- 
ence. Both were perhaps used in a game resembling the chunkj^ game 
of the Indians of the southern United States. The pottery vessel 
(«, figure 15) has a height of 15 cm., and the diameter at the mouth is 13 
cm. It was well baked and carefully smoothed, and then received a 
red coating, upon which was traced a network of black lines: but the 
coating is rubbed oft' in many places. The plates (J, figure 15) have a 
diameter of 23 to 25 cm. and a height of about 6 cm. They are also of 
well-baked clay, rough on the outside and furnished with a light-red 
coating on the inside. 



SELER] 



ANTIQUITIES OF GUATEMALA 87 



Farther up in the vaiiey of the Chixoy, where the Salba empties on 
the right, lie the ruins of Chama, where the excavations of Mr Die- 
seldorff have jdelded such tine results. According to the information 
which he has given about them in the Zeitschrift fiir Ethnologic, 
there were on the left, as well as on the right, bank of the Salba 
several plazas (courts or squares inclosed b}^ walls), above which 
rise artificial mounds of the familiar truncated pyramidal form. In 
the pyramid on the north side of the plaza, distinguished by him as 
the "lower" one, which, if I understand rightly, is on the left bank 
of the Salba, he found, among a layer of potsherds nearly two feet in 
thickness, a dark resinous mass in which were embedded dilierent 
specimens of stone, small polyhedric slabs of iron pyrites, and disks 
of a sort of slate. The small disks of iron pyrites, which Dieseldorff 
would prefer to explain as mirrors, probably served as mosaic incrus- 
tations of utensils or ornaments (ear pegs or similar articles). The 
stone disks which Dieseldorff designated as sacrificial plates are pro- 
vided with holes and connecting grooves which doubtless represent 
guides for cords." They are, perhaps, ornamental disks like the large 
disks which we tind in Mexican picture writings on the fillets worn on 
the forehead by different deities, especially by the sun god (see below, 
J, figure 28), and in a similar manner on different stone heads of Copan.^ 
He found under this resinous layer a grave formed of stones, in 
which, near the dead, who were buried in a sitting posture, were found 
a jaguar's skull, a ring made of a mussel shell, and five potter}^ ves- 
sels — one painted jug, two cup-like painted vessels, an unpainted pot,, 
and a three-footed bowl.'^ 

Mr Dieseldorff found similar conditions in the northwest mound of 
the upper plaza, on the left bank of the Salba. He could not per- 
sonally complete the excavations, but others excavated after him, and 
various painted vessels were found near the dead. A ver}^ inter- 
esting drawing of one of them Mr Dieseldorff sent to the Berlin 
Anthropological Society."' Lastly, Mr Dieseldorff found, in a pyramid 
which forms the southern end of a plaza on the right bank of the 
river Salba, under a layer of stone, a quantity of vessels of various 
shapes embedded in a viscous clay, but all of them were shattered by 
the fall of the stone layer. ^ Mingled with the vessels were found the 
remains of various human skeletons, whose recumbent posture, with 
the head toward the south, was still clearly recognizable. Various 
stone specimens and a small polyhedral slab of iron pyrites were found 

a See the photographs in Zeitschrift fiir Ethnologie, 1893, v. 25, p. 377. 

6Maudslay, Biologia Centrali Americana, Archaeology, pt. 1, pi. ii. 

e Of these the painted jug is reproduced in Zeitschrift fiir Ethnologie, v. 25, 1893, p. 378, and one of 
the painted jugs, same volume, pi. xvi, tig. 1. 

d Zeitschrift fiir Ethnologie, 1894, v. 26, pi. viii. 

e Three of these are reproduced in the Zeitschrift fiir Ethnologie, a vessel with the god in the snail 
shell, V. 25, 1893, pi. XVI, figs. 3, 4, and two others with the figure of the bat god, in the same volume, 
p. 374, and v. 26, 1894, pi. xiii. 



88 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOaY [bttll.28 

among them; but tne resinous mass over the burial chambers in the 
other two cases was entirely lacking here. 

These discoveries are especially interesting because the painted ves- 
sels belong among those which, partly by reason of the character of 
the figures, but especially by reason of the hieroglyphs which are found 
on different ones, are proved to be akin to the Maya manuscripts and 
sculptures of the great ruin cities of Central America and Yucatan. 
Such vessels have also been found in other parts of Guatemala, and 
this fact rather contradicts the statements of the authors, who, while 
they lay stress on the fact that the Mayas of Yucatan and Peten 
had "signs and letters with which they wrote their histories and noted 
their ceremonies, and the order of sacriiices to their idols, and their 
calendar", nevertheless mention nothing of the kind concerning the 
races of Guatemala. The isolated statement of Zorita that he was 
convinced from the paintings of the natives of Utatlan that their 
ancient history dated back eight hundred years rather indicates picture 
writings of the nature of the historical codices of the Mexicans. 

The locality of Chama is quite near the region in which occur ruins 
of Maya character or sculptures with hieroglyphs. At least four 
of the vessels which Mr Dieseldorff described in print bear a fairly 
uniform character, although they were found in three different places, 
and if they were not manufactured in this locality they must certainly 
have all originated in the same region. The hieroglyphs conform in 
general to those of the reliefs and manuscripts, though it is not possi- 
ble to connect them with particular manuscripts or reliefs. But sev- 
eral of the pictorial representations, however, seem to refer to certain 
conditions peculiar to Guatemala. « Whether these vessels were made 
in Chama itself, or whether they were brought there in trade, can only 
be decided when not mere single fragments, but the entire contents 
of the graves and the earth surrounding them are made known or 
become accessible for study, as has been done by Mr Strebel. That 
the place of manufacture can not be very distant, however, must, it 
seems, be accepted as certain. 

The eastern provinces have especial importance in the Qu'ekchi 
region. In Cahabon, as Stoll learned from Professor Kockstroh,* a 
part of the ancient Chols were settled, and three barrios of this village 
at that time still claimed the region on the upper Sarstun and to the 
north of this river as having belonged to their ancestors. Doctor 
Sapper has been unable to find traces of the Choi language in Cahabon. 
Still, the dialect of the people of Lanquin and Cahabon differs from 
that of the Qu'ekchi of Coban. They likewise differ in certain pecu- 
liarities in the building of their houses and in their burial customs.^ 

Doctor Sapper has investigated a few of the caves in this eastern 

«See Zeitschrift fur Ethnologie, 1894, v. 26, p. 577, and following; 1895, v. 27, p. 27. 

& Stoll, Guatemala, p. 359. 

cPetermann's Geographische Mittheilungen, 1893, pp. 7, 8. 



seler] 



ANTIQUITIES OF GUATEMALA 



89 



region, which he considers quite ancient settlements. In Campur he 
excavated a small cave which is about 10 meters deep and whose floor 
slopes inward. Four meters from the entrance a wall, built of stone 
without mortar, runs obliquel}^ through the cavern. Doctor Sapper 
found behind this wall some large stones, without recognizable signifi- 
cance or connection, which may perhaps have been hearthstones or 










N 
















^ V 


» 'f^ 


11 




v^ 




'"^^j. 


1 


i 






g h 

Fig. 16. Pottery vessels in the form of animal heads, Guatemala. 

seats. There were, further, remains of pots, most of them without 
decoration. One fragment had a hole drilled under the rim, doubtless 
for a cord by which the vessel was carried. A fragment of the rim of 
a thick vessel showed linear decorations scratched on it. But near by 
were also found two feet, belonging to vessels, in the form of animal 
heads of the types copied in a and h, figure 16, apparently of the same 



90 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BtTLL.28 

material as the other vessels. There was, further, a pottery stamp with 
a simple geometric or meander pattern; also clay balls, which Doctor 
Sapper calls blowgun balls, but which, it is more likely, came out of 
the hollow handles of incense spoons, and may be designated as rattle 
stones. There were found two fragments of stone hatchets, one of 
flint, the other of a hornblendic quartz rock; a whetstone, a flint arrow- 
head, various small obsidian knives, a piece of rock crystal, countless 
fresh-water shells of the Melania family, a land snail, fragments of 
skeletons of birds and small mammals, among which the paca and other 
small rodents were recognized. There were also teeth of the jabali, 
tepescuinte, and other tusked animals, a jaguar's tooth, and noticeably, 
also, a piece of crab's claw, and a piece of a sea urchin's shell with 
pores. It was without doubt the wretched abode of a people who lived 
by the chase. But I believe that there is no special reason to consider 
it very much older than the other settlements which have become 
known in that region. 

A second cave in this region, which was searched by Doctor Sapper, 
is that of Ceamay . Fragments of a large thin-walled vessel were found 
there, the exterior of which was decorated with a sort of mat-braid 
pattern scratched in tine lines. 

The finds of Chiatzam seem also to have a peculiar character. Besides 
a beautiful lance point of flint and a fine obsidian knife, 25 cm. in length 
and 3 cm. in breadth, the Sapper collection contains fragments of stone 
jugs, which seem to have had two small handles on the circumference, 
with a boss between them, and which are decorated at the base of the 
neck with a double row of small grooved circles. Further, there are 
worthy of notice thick coarse fragments, with deeply scratched ser- 
pentine lines which form definite figures, and also thick potsherds dec- 
orated in very deep lines with symbols and hieroglyphs, almost like 
certain vessels from Tabasco which were placed in the Trocadero 
Museum by M. Charnay. A pottery head from Chiatzam will be dis- 
cussed below. 

From the central parts of the Qu'ekchi territory, the district of 
Coban, Zamac, San Pedro Carcha, and San Juan Chamelco, the Royal 
Museum possesses, partly in the Sarg and partly in the Sapper collec- 
tion, a large number of pottery objects and fragments, mostly small, 
as well as some stone objects. 

In his contributions to the ethnography of the Republic of Guate- 
mala « Doctor Sapper calls attention to the diflerence in the form of 
the millstones for grinding maize used in the diflerent parts of Guate- 
mala. While in the highlands they use clumsy millstones and heavy 
cylindric hand rollers projecting on each side beyond the edge of the 
millstone and held at the ends (manufactured about Santa Catalina, not 
far from Quetzaltenango), there were used in Peten, in Vera Paz, and 

aPetermann's Geographische Mittheilungen, 1893, p. 12. 



SELEE] ANTIQUITIES OF GUATEMALA 91 

in southeast Guatemala lighter millstones with smooth hand rollers 
shorter than the breadth of the millstone and held in the middle (man- 
ufacturing center at Jilotopeque). The first form of hand rollers with 
a circular section (in many cases becoming- nearly square or very 
much flattened on one side) is also the customary form in the plateau 
of Mexico. It is represented in the Guatemalan collection of the Royal 
Museum by a fragment of a hand roller from the ruins of Q'umarcaah- 
Utatlan, the ancient Quiche capital. A hand roller which Doctor 
Sapper has sent from the ruins of Bolonchac in Chiapas — that is, from 
the Tzental territory — shows the smooth, shorter form. It is 25 cm. 
long by 9 cm. broad and 1^ cm. in its greatest thickness (see c, figure 
15). A similar but less regular form is shawn in a hand roller of the 
Sapper collection from Panquip, or Las Pacayas, a region which 
belongs to the Pokonchi territory. But, besides these, there occurs in 
the ancient settlements of Vera Paz a remarkable form of long hand 
crusher, flattened on two sides almost like a board, with thick knob- 
like ends which serve as handles and must have extended beyond the 
sides of the millstone (see the fragment d, figure 15). Such crushers 
are in the Sapper collection from Campur and from the neighbor- 
hood of Coban. In one remarkable piece in the Sarg collection from 
Cebaczoos {e^ figure 15) these ends are even developed into a sort of 
handle. I must remark, however, that this flat boardlike form, which 
differs in a very conspicuous way from the cylindric or quadrangular 
forms of the Mexican plateau and the highlands of Guatemala, is also 
found in a specimen of the Strebel collection, which is said to have 
come from the neighborhood of Misantla in the State of Vera Cruz. 
Several other hand rollers of the Sapper collection which come from 
Pilon de Azuear, hence from the Misantla region, show the origin of 
this form — namely, that the flattened side is cut out, as it were, of 
the original cylindric tool, the ends remaining thick and knobby. 

Among the coarser pottery, 1 will next mention two pieces, one of 
which came from San Juan Chamelco, the other from the locality of 
Santa Cruz, which is soon to be discussed in detail. These specimens 
recall in a certain way the shoe vessels, as they, too, are shaped (see 
figure 15) suitably to be pushed into the ground. On the whole, they 
resemble the neck of a jug, the mouth of which has been closed and 
forms the bottom of the vessel. The Sarg collection contains an 
actual small shoe vessel. It is said to have come from Coban. But 
this vessel is so out of place and reminds one so much of the types 
peculiar to Central America (Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Chiriqui) that 
I am inclined to think it was accidentally brought here, but I will 
await further discoveries before deciding. 

In the Sapper collection there are fragments of ruder vessels from 
the neighborhood of Coban, with thick, wavy, indented rims. Some 
are likewise embossed with decorations and have grooved circles, like 



92 BUEEAU OF AMEBIC AN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

those from Ceamay. There are some polished ones, with dark, thin 
Tvalls, ornamented with circles and bosses of rather elegant appearance, 
from Petet, near Coban. There are also some with thick walls and a 
yellowish-red coating bordered with broad white stripes, from San 
Juan Chamelco. There are, besides, painted fragments with different 
patterns in black and red on a yellowish-red ground. 

Three-footed dishes, so-called cazuelas, with heads of animals as 
feet, appear to have been much used, together with simple dishes, flat- 
bottomed or slightly rounded. One whole dish of this kind is in the 
Sapper collection from the neighborhood of Coban, and there are also 
broken-off feet from San Juan Chamelco and other places. A reddish- 
yellow or dark-brown coating seems to have been preferred for the 
vessels. The feet of vessels in the form of animal heads partly recall 
the types in the Strebel collection from Cerro Montoso and those from 
Cholula. Among the shapes represented I mention the alligator, 
coati(?), jaguar, monkey, and human face (a to e, figure 16, which are 
taken from the Sarg collection). 

I further mention larger juglike vessels. As in other regions, a face 
was frequently placed on the necks of these. The Sapper collection 
contains a ruder fragment of this kind from Campur, and a thinner- 
walled one from San Juan Chamelco, which I have reproduced in /, 
figure 16. The circular protuberances on the cheeks are noticeable 
here. The lips were added separately, but are unfortunately broken 
away. It is not impossible that a beard may have been indicated, 
similar to the one depicted in the vessel below (d, figure 23). The 
whole face has a coating of light-red ocher. 

One must not confuse the head-shaped ends of incense-spoon handles, 
which are also frequent, with the feet of vessels in the form of animal 
heads. The former preferably show a reptile head (A, figure 16, from 
Sacuyo in Doctor Sapper's collection), or they have a human head with 
empty eye sockets communicating with the hollow interior of the 
handle {g, figure 16, from Petet, near Coban, Sarg collection). Here, 
too, appears a certain analogy with the region of the Strebel col- 
lection. I remark here that in the Yucatan collection of the Royal 
Museum a similar head, with hollow eye sockets, is used to decorate the 
front of a cylindric vessel. 

Many of the feet of vessels and, commonly, the hollow handles of 
incense spoons, contain little clay balls, which give these articles the 
character of rattles. A large number of such little clay balls were 
collected bj^ Doctor Sapper in the cave of Campur. 

The fragment from Coban (c, figure 17) evidently also belongs to an 
incense vessel, which was not held in the hand, but was meant to stand. 
The head, whose ornamental finish strongly recalls the style of the 
Copan sculptures, is doubtless intended for an animal head. But what 
kind of an animal it is meant to represent unfortunately can not be 



selee] 



ANTIQUITIES OF GUATEMALA 



93 



determined from the fragment, as the front of both jaws is broken off. 
Behind the angles of the jaw a human ear, with a square ear plate, is 
indicated, which often occurs in animal figures, especially in such as 
figure in mythology. In the small collection of antiquities which Mr 




Fig. 17. Pottery fragrments from Guatemala. 

Dieseldorfl' brought over some years ago and which at present is kept 
at his house in Hamburg is found the handle of an incense spoon, with 
an animal head at the end, which corresponds almost exactly to our c, 
figure lY, and which is complete. I have taken pains to make a draw- 
ing of this object from a few small photographs which I possess of 



94 BUREAU OF AMEBIC AN ETHNOLOGY . [bull. 28 

this collection through the kindness of Mr Dieseldorff, and have 
reproduced it in a. The nose is remarkably long, and one is almost 
tempted to think of the Tziniin-Chac, the horse of Cortes, which 
remained in Peten and was worshipped as a god. But I believe another 
comparison lies nearer. In h 1 reproduce in outline a large piece of 
sculpture from Santa Lucia Cozumalhuapa, which is found in our 
Royal Museum and which I believe corresponds to the head in a, and 
probably also to the one in c. This stone head is especially interesting, 
because it is represented with weeping eyes or, perhaps more correctly, 
with eyes fallen out of the sockets. 

In the Mexican calendar writings, whose models doubtless came 
from the south, the empty eye sockets are the special sign of a certain 
mythologic personage to whom the interpreters give the name Xolotl. 
This is a person who has no place in the worship of the plateau tribes 
and is evidently a stranger to them. Something mysterious and unnat- 
ural pertained*^to him. By the interpreters he was called the " god of 
monstrosities", and "monstrosity" is probably the most suitable trans- 
lation of his name. The empty eye sockets are explained by the Mexican 
legend which says that, when in Teotihuacan the gods had decided to 
sacrifice themselves in order to give strength and life to the newly 
created sun, Xolotl withdrew from this sacrifice and wept so that his 
eyes started from their sockets. This explanation was invented only 
to make the unintelligible characteristic of a strange personality com- 
prehensible to themselves and others. In an earlier work I have sought 
to make it clear that, since in Zapotec the hairless native dog is called 
peco-xolo, by Xolotl was originally meant the lightning beast of the 
Maya tribes', the dog. A dog, or, more correctly, perhaps, a coyote, 
is, in fact, in certain picture writings, the direct equivalent of Xolotl. 
But I was later convinced that in the above-mentioned Zapotec expres- 
sion xolo is only the attribute, and in this case designates a special, 
really unnatural, kind of dog. Thus the dog or coyote has become the 
representative of Xolotl in a roundabout way, by a secondary tram 
of thought— perhaps, indeed, through the false interpretation of an 
unknown, uncomprehended animal form. 

I am inclined to see the true Xolotl in an animal which the Zapotecs 
likewise designate by xolo, in full, as peche-x61o,« suggesting the sense 
of "sinister being", also known to the Mexicans under this name, 
their tlaca- xolotl.* This is the tapir, whose mythologic role is estab- 

r- "Pecho-xolo'', "danta animal silvestre", Juaii de C6rdoba, Vocabulario Zapoteco. 

(-SahaKun and Hernandez describe nnder the name of tlaca-xolotl an animal whicli is said to live 
in the provinces of Atzaccan, Tepotzotzontlan, and Tlanquilapan, ' ' not far from Honduras . It is as 
arge as an ox, has a long snout, large teeth, hoofs like an ox, a thick hide, and reddish hair. It lives 
upon wild co-ioa, fruits, and leaves of trees, lays waste the maize fields, and is caught m pits and 
eaten The name tlaca-xolotl is moreover nothing more than a translation of the Zapotec peche- 
x61o,forin Zapotec, peche is probably a secondary form of peni, "human being" '•rational living 
being" (Mexican tlacatl) as mache is a secondary form of mam. "animal . The description of Her- 
nandez contains some conspicuous errors. He translates " pero de la forma de una Pff ""J^^ •;^^;^^ 
inSahagnn refers onlv to the preceding " los dientes y muelas muy grandes . that is. ^erj large 
incisors and mo?ar teeth, but of the same shflpe as those of men " by " humana psne facie . 



^^^^^^ ANTIQUITIES OF GUATEMALA 95 

lished, yet very little is known of its peculiar nature, and whose well- 
drawn figure we see in one of the interesting relief tiles of Chiapas. 
If the tapir be really Xolotl, the empty sockets must be characteristic 
of the tapir, and we ought to recognize the tapir in b, however 
improbable this identification maybe to the eye trained to observe 
natural phenomena. 

A quantity of other fragments show the same style and the same 
conception as a and c, especially those with conventionalized and orna- 
mentally developed serpent heads, many of which seem to be found in 
this region. I have copied in a, figure 18, a fragment from San Juan 
Chamelco and in h another from Santa Cruz. The human leg, which 
is seen in the latter fragment under the edge of the upper jaw, prob- 
ably belongs to a complete human figure which issued from the jaws 
of the serpent— a very common representation which we see in the 
cedar- wood tablets of Tikal and numerous other sculptures. These are 
usually clay tablets with quite high and boldly executed reliefs. Some 
have a peglike attachment on the reverse side. Perhaps they belong 
to the kind of tablets which I have represented in /, h, and /, figure 20, 
and which I interpret as celestial shields. On the last page of the 
Dresden manuscript and in the Perez codex the celestial shields ter- 
minate in half figures, especially heads of crocodiles. It seems more 
probable to me that they are fragments of complicated figure struc- 
tures resembling those of the Copan stelge.. 

The materia] of these quite numerous fragments and also of the 
fragment in c, figure 17, is a hard-baked clay of brick-red appearance. 
The fragments convey a strong impression of having all come from 
the same place of manufacture. 

The majority of the heads and figure fragments of this region are 
made of this same red clay. I reproduce next, in c, figure 18, the cast 
of an ancient pottery shape, which Doctor Sapper obtained in the 
region of Coban without being able to fix the exact place of discovery. 
It is probably a female figure with parted hair falling down at the 
sides of the head, a lock of which, drawn forward from behind, hangs 
far down over the shoulder. This long tapering lock of flowing hair 
in front is likewise a distinguishing characteristic of women in the 
Dresden manuscript, and we see it, moreover, in the vase painting from 
Kio Hondo, which is reproduced below in c, figure 26. The form c, 
figure 18, wears large square ornamental tablets in the ears. A cloth 
IS wound about the body immediately below the breasts, and around 
the neck she wears a cord on which is strung a large quadrangular 
prismatic stone bead with a round bead at each end. A head {h, figure 
19) which comes from San Juan Chamelco evidently belonged to a sim- 
ilar figure. Here, too, the hair is parted, but bound above the forehead 
by a tupuy, " headband '\ Two other modes of dressing the hair. 



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[bull. 28 




Fig, 18. Pottery fragments from Guatemala. 



^"^^^^^ ANTIQUITIES OF GUATEMALA 97 

doubtless also belonging to female figures, are given in d and e, figure 
18, one a back, the other a front, view. The latter strongly reminds 
us of the festive headdress of an Indian woman whose picture Stoll 
gives in his contributions to the ethnology of the Indian races of 
Guatemala/' These two fragments came from San Juan Chamelco. 
Both the cloth wound around the body and the neck decoration are also 
very distinctly seen in the fragment shown in A, figure 19, which like- 
wise came from San Juan Chamelco. Here again on the neck cord 
are strung two quadrangular prismatic beads on each side of a small 
mask, which must have been heavy, for it was held by a separate band 
or strap passing over the shoulder. A small pottery pipe of the Sarg 
collection, which comes from Coban (/, figure 18) shows a woman with 
a cloth around the body, carrying a large water jug on her shoulder, 
who has the same way of dressing the hair as c, figure 18, also large 
square ear plates. 

The forms a and c, figure 19, are male heads. The latter, which comes 
from San Juan Chamelco, is characterized by a large nose bar. The 
former, which comes from Sesis, is distinguished by a clearly defined 
and strongly modeled mustache and a foldlike elevation on the fore- 
head above the root of the nose. I saw a mustache marked in a 
smiilar way on a head in the Dieseldorfi' collection. A mustache and 
beard are likewise clearly present in a relief {e, figure 19), from Petet 
near Coban, now in the Sarg collection. In the remarkable vessel 
from Chama which Mr Dieseldorfi described in the Zeitschrift fiir 
Ethnologic^ all the persons of the group at the left of the picture 
are distinguished by a more or less prominent growth of hair on the 
upper lip and chin. I believe that we have here, if not an anthro- 
pologic distinction, certainly an ethnologic one, and, at the same time, 
proof that the heads and reliefs which I have copied here were made 
m the same region as the painted pots of Chama or, at least, in some 
adjacent region, which increases the probability that none of these 
articles were importations, but were made on the spot. 

The two reliefs e and /belong to the Sarg collection. The former 
was found in Petet, the latter in Chicojoito, near Coban. '^^ Unfortu- 
nately, both are fragments and must each be assigned to a separate 
group of figures. They are male figures. That at e distinctly shows 
a mustache and beard; / shows them less clearly. The manner of 
dressing the hair seems to be the same in both. It is long and hangino- 
down behind, and is cut off over the forehead, just as the Dominican 
monks described it as being worn among the Qu'ekchis and the Chols. 
Itwas, as we know, a very difficult task for the monks to persuade their 

n Internationales Archiv fur Ethnographie (Leiden), supplement to v. 1, pi. ii, fig. 15. 
cl am familiar with similar quadrangular pottery reliefs bordered by broad stripes from Teotitlan 
SlterTflgures. '"' ''''' '' °""^°" ^""'^ ^" ^^^^^^ *° ^^ P^^^« °^ -1-- --^"l^^e foundations o' 
7238— No. 28—05 7 



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[BULL. 28 









Fig. 19. FtU'e-form vessels from Guatemala. 



ANTIQUITIES OF GUATEMALA 99 

heathen pupils to have their hair cut in a Christian and civilized man- 
ner. In the %ures on the reliefs we are considering the hair seems to 
have been removed from the middle of the head, like a tonsure, and 
from the back of the crown decorations of feathers (quetzal feathers) 
hang far down the back. For ornament both figures wear square ear 
plates and necklaces of large round beads. They are clothed with the 
breechcloth (Mexican maxtlatl, Maya ex), the knot of which is large 
and plainly seen in e, while in/ it is covered by a skull which this 
figure wears on a cord hanging over the back. The action is difficult 
to explain, since the opposite figure is wanting. An offering or a 
presentation appears to be expressed. I can say nothing further in 
explanation. 

The head in g was obtained by Doctor Sapper in Chiatzam. It was 
made of the same brick-red clay as all of the above-described heads 
and fragments, and is the first which we can identifv with a known 
mythologic character. The hair standing erect in flaming tongues, 
and especially the eye with the four radiations on the forehead,^lead 
us to recognize in it Kinich Ahau, the sun god. The piece is unfor- 
tunately incomplete, the lower half of the face being absent. But 
the Dieseldortf collection contains two heads which represent the sun 
god and have a very peculiar characteristic on the lower half of the 
face. Mr Dieseldorff permitted me to make a sketch of these. They 
are a and 5, figure 20. Both come from the neighborhood of San Juan 
Chamelco. They can be recognized as representations of the sun god by 
the large, peculiarly formed eye, whilst I is distinguished also by the 
hair, and a by the cross over the forehead, which is a variant of the Kin 
sign. Both show, as the most striking peculiarity, teeth filed to a 
point in a certain manner. This is precisely the peculiarity which 
occurs with great regularity in the Copan sculptures of the sun god. 
A glance at c and (^ will suffice to confirm this. The form c is taken 
from Stela H, d from Stela A (Maudslay's notation). Both are clearly 
designated as representations of the sun god by the Kin sign on the 
forehead. But we also see this same peculiarity in the heads of the sun 
god which stand among the initial numerical hieroglyphs of the stelae 
in the sixth place, directly before the name of the 'katun (10 Ahau), 
which thus denote the units, that is, the single days (see e and f, which 
are taken from Stelse A and J). The beardlike lines indicated' below 
the head of the sun god are without doubt the u mex kin, "the beard 
of the sun ", " the sunbeams ". Wherever in this place, instead of the 
head of the sun god, the simple Kin sign stands, as on Stela M of Copan 
and on the altar slab of the first cross temple number in Palenque, this 
sun beard is regularly indicated (see g and li). 

I should further like to call attention to the fact that the representa- 
tions of the sun god found in the manuscripts by no means show the 
teeth filed to a point in the same characteristic way. Therefore the 



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[bull. 28 




Fig. 20. Pottery ornaments from Guatemala. 



SELER] ANTIQUITIES OF GUATEMALA 101 

fact that this is so distinctly brought out in the heads of San Juan 
Chamelco is of especial weight. It proves that the ancient inhabitants 
of Vera Paz were under the immediate influence of the civilized nation 
which had erected the monumental structures of Copan, perhaps were 
identical with them; at any rate, that they were closely akin to them. 
Further, I will not omit to mention that this peculiar manner of filing 
the teeth is seen on the pottery pipes of the Strebel Ranchito de 
las Animas collection, the so-called ''Totonac priests", which are 
sitting, standing, or carousing figures, dressed in a peculiar capelike 
overgarment. 

In this connection a few other small antiquities, some of which are 
contained in the Sapper collection, and some in the Dieseldorfi' collec- 
tion, from this region, seem to me to be of importance. These are red 
pottery tablets with a rectangular border, on which, between raised 
intersecting moldings, is a series of consecutive symbols executed in 
relief. I copied a fragment of the Sapper collection, seen in /, and 
attempted, in / and k, to reproduce some of the symbols contained on 
these fragments from photographs of the Dieseldorfi' collection. I 
believe that in these fragments we have celestial shields executed in 
relief, that is, they correspond to the tablets (square or rectangularly 
bent), bearing the signs Kin, Akbal, and variants of the same, which 
occur frequently in the Maya manuscripts, and which Forstemann would 
like to interpret as symbols of different stars or planets. Messrs Sapper 
and Dieseldorfi formerly attached special importaaice to the little 
rosettes {d, figure 19), which occur frequently in the region of Chamelco. 
I consider them fragments of larger figures, and do not believe that 
any deeper meaning can be attached to the number symbols on them, 
excepting, of course, the four parts into which the center knot divides. 
On the latter there are traces of blue color, as in the ear plates of J, 
figure 19. The rosette itself appears to have been painted crimson. 
The ear plates might, perhaps, be considered to represent turquoise 
mosaic, and the same might be true of the knots of the rosettes. 

A few pottery figures (pipes) of the Sarg collection, said to have 
come from the cave of Zabalam, near Co ban, are of a peculiar character 
(«, 5, and c, figure 21). The material is a brick-red clay, which is some- 
what more sandy than in the fragments described before, painted in 
certain places partly light-blue and partly white. The whole construc- 
tion has something remarkably modern about it; the first, a, shows a 
figure clothed with a maxtlatl and a loin cloth, wearing large round 
ear pegs and a cylindric stone bead on a cord around the neck, and 
adorned with great winglike feather ornaments projecting from the 
sides of the head. The figure is represented in a dancing posture 
before a sort of tree, whose branches are made of unripe ears of maize 
still in the husk. Such an ear of maize also rises high over the head 
of the figure. Both at the right and left are seen figures of animals 



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BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



[BVLL. 28 



(squirrel and bird) nibbling the ears of maize. There are also animal 
figures erect on their haunches at the feet of the prmcipal figure. 




Fig. 21. Pottery figures from Guatemala. 



The second piece, J, is a sitting figure, similarly costumed, with a large 
headdress, the chief feature of which is a high braided structure, perhaps 



seler] 



ANTIQUITIES OF GUATEMALA 



103 



an imitation of an ear of maize. The tree with the ears of maize and the 
animal figures is lacking. The third piece, c, one might actually sup- 
pose to be the representation of a Spaniard if this idea were not con- 
tradicted by the ear ornament, the broad bead anklets, and, especiall}^, 
the maxtlatl. The figure may, perhaps, be thought to be clothed with 
an ichcauipil, or quilted armor, unless we have before us, which is also 
very probable, a Christian cacique in Spanish costume. Under the left 
hand there is an object which looks almost like a Spanish shield, but 
is perhaps a piece of cloth with a broad border. It is this last figure 
which suggests the idea that in all three pieces we have fantastic 
images of recent date. On the other hand, I find in the photographs 
of the Dieseldorfl' collection an ear of maize, which seems as if it were 
broken from a figure similar to the one in a. 

The fragments which Doctor Sapper found in his excavations in La 
Cueva, near Santa Cruz, under- 
taken with Mr Dieseldorfi', 
form an especiallj^ valuable 
part of his collection. This 
ancient settlement, the plan of 
which is here given, lies at 
present near the boundary line 
between the districts in which 
the Qu'ekchi and the Pokonchi 
languages are spoken. Doctor 
Sapper prefers to ascribe it 
to the latter tribe, because the 
plan of the settlement as well 
as the finds especially difi'er in 

many respects from the undoubted Qu'ekchi finds of San Juan, 
Chamelco, etc. I am inclined to accept this opinion. Isolated pieces, 
to be sure, agree with the undoubted Qu'ekchi finds. I have also 
described above some among the latter. Owing to the geographic 
proximit}" of the two places of discovery this is not to be wondered at. 

The mounds A, B, C were excavated by Messrs Sapper and Diesel- 
dorfi, and the chief discoveries were made in the southern mound. A, 
a small terraced pyramid constructed of earth and stone (called in the 
Indian dialect of that place tzak, that is, "masonr}^"). The finds 
are, in the main, simple, undecorated vessels. Yet single richly dec- 
orated ones were found among them, as, for example, one which Doctor 
Sapper some years ago gave to Mr Lorenz Eyssen, then in Guatemala. 
Among the others the next of importance are the vessels in the form 
of kneeling female figures, whose removable heads form the covers of 
the vessels. Three such vessels were found in the mound. One fell 
to the share of Mr Dieseldorfl' when the results of the excavations 
were divided, and he had the great kindness to present it to the Royal 




n 










E 








1 1 


(- 




, ,1 


3 


D 


A 


IQII 


G 



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BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



[bull. 



Museum when he was in Berlin. The second was given to Consul- 
General Sarg in Guatemala some years ago by Doctor Sapper. The 
third was unfortunately lost on its way to Guatemala. 

Of the plainer vessels some are cup-shaped, some are jar-shaped, while 
some of them have handles, and others have not. The size, too, varies 
greatly. But they had all been covered, it seems, with a shallow bowl, 








Fig. 22. Pottery vessels from Guatemala. 

or had simple disklike covers (see h, figure 22). The vessel «, figure 
22, is made of light-gray clay and seems to have been without a col- 
ored coating. Various others are not only carefully smoothed, but 
have a coating of yellowish-red or brown. A small vessel in the shape 
of a bird, c, was likewise found among them, but I am not informed 
whether it, too, had a cover and whether its contents were the same 
as those named above. 

The middle mound, B, and the northern mound, C, were less rich 



^^^^^^ ANTIQUITIES OF GUATEMALA 105 

in finds. From the latter the Sapper collection contains a cup- shaped 
vessel, with a wide opening, about 10 cm. high, d. From the middle 
one it contains a cup-like vessel, IT cm. high, e, of a form frequent in 
Yucatan and Tabasco. Both have the reddish-yellow coating which is 
quite common among the clay vessels of this region and of the neigh- 
boring Yucatan and Tabasco. 

The figure vessel, a, contained an obsidian knife and the phalanges 
of the left little finger of a human hand. It is possibly, even probably, 
merely accidental that the figure which forms the vessel has only four 
fingers on the left hand. In the same way, it seems, all the other 
vessels which were found covered with a bowl or a cover contained 
obsidian knives and finger joints. Some contained, in addition, pot- 
tery fragments, rattle balls, and pieces (feet) of clay figures. This 
fact, which I can not compare with anything among other sculpture 
finds of Mexico and Central America, seemed very strange to me at 
the first glance. Cutting oflf the finger joints is known to be a sacri- 
fice to the deity in the sun dance of the North American Indians. The 
women of the Charrua and other neighboring South American races 
cut off single finger joints at the death of their husbands. But noth- 
ing of this sort has been known up to this time of the ancient races 
of Central America. 

Neither do I believe it is necessary to suppose a sacrifice in this 
case. On the other hand, a certain passage in the Quiche tradition 
which is known under the name "Titulo de los Senores de Totonica- 
pam" appears to me to contain a definite allusion to the custom which 
we are considering. 

It is related that the Quiche, together with the kindred tribes of the 
Tarn and the Hoc and the thirteen tribes of the Vuk ama'k Tecpam, 
by whom are apparently understood the Cakchiquel and the Tzutu- 
hil, left their homes and went by way of Chicpach and Chiquiche to 
the mountain of Hacavitz Chipal. There the Tam separated from the 
rest and went to the mountain of Ama'k Tan, and the Hoc, together 
with the Vuk ama^v, settled on the mountain of U'kin, while the 
Quiche themselves remained behind on the Hacavitz Chipal mountain. 
Here the Vuk ama'k threatened them with war, but the Quiche, 
advised by their nagual, were able to defend themselves by magic arts 
against three successive attacks. The first trick played on the Vuk 
ama'k was by magic, to cause them to fall into a deep sleep, and when 
they were asleep not only to take away their weapons, but also to cut 
off their little fingers and little toes, so that when they awoke they felt 
so disgraced that they returned to their homes filled with shame. « 

In reference to this passage, I am of the opinion that these were spolia 
opima taken from slain enemies, which were buried in the various pots 

« Alii les acometid tan profundo sueno que no sintieron cuando nuestros padres les despoiaron de 
sus arcos, fleehas y toda arma y demas el dedo menique de pi6s y manos, de suerte que cuando 
acordaron, se vieron en estado tan afrentado, que se volvieron avergonzados & sus hogares 



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[BULL. 28 



in the southern mound of the settlement of La Cueva, near Santa Cruz. 
It ao-rees very well with this explanation that it was the southern 
mound in which the pots with the obsidian knives and the finger ]omts 
were found, for the south was consecrated to the war god and to vic- 
tory This we see in the familiar picture of the Cortesian codex 
which represents the tonalamatl divided into four divi'sions, which, 
With the deities belonging to them, are arranged around the two gods 




WllHtt'»!HW."t '-''n|ll""'"'""l'W'"l'''"'1"'"''"'''M'li 



s^^^^ 



b 





Fig. 23. Animal-shaped vessel from Guatemala. 

of creation, forming the center. Here, in the last division of the 
tonalamatl, which consequently belongs to the south, the picture («, 
fio-ure 28) is seen showing the hieroglyph of the south (Nohol) and the 
wlr gods with the bound captive. That one is the division belonging 
to the south and the other the sign belonging to the south 1 have 
already pointed out in my paper on Mex ican chronology. « 

a Zeitsehrift fiir Ethnotogie, 1891, v. 23, pp. 104, 106. 



^'^f'^^^ ANTIQUITIES OF GUATEMALA 107 

The settlement of Panquip, or Las Pacayas, belongs to the Pokonchi 
territory, where Messrs Sapper and Dieseldorff also made excavations. 
From this locality the Royal Museum possesses only a few fine obsid- 
ian lance points, one of flint, and a few pottery fragments, among 
them thin quadrangular tablets with perforations near the corners, the 
meaning of which is not clear to me. 

There still remain some classes of antiquities which I have not yet 
discussed, because they cover a wider range of territory and because 
there is greater probability that they were imported articles of trade. 
These are the vessels covered with hieroglyphs and delicate painting 
and the green and gray enameled or glazed vessels. 

The Royal Museum possesses a few fragments of vessels with deli- 
cate painting from this territory, and also from San Juan Chamelco. 
Two types, at least, are to be distinguished among them, and it seems 
to me that the same two types can also })e recognized among fragments 
from the ruins of Copan. 

As to the hieroglyphs, it is frequently impossible in a particular case 
to say whether we have before us a mere ornament or a hieroglyph, 
although, perhaps, in most cases a definite symbolic meaning must 
finally be ascribed to an ornament. Among the fragments of the 
Sapper collection from San Juan Chamelco the two ornaments or 
hieroglyphs shown in the cut, symmetrically repeated on a band 
running around near the upper edge of the vessel, are plainly to 
be seen. One (J, figure 23), is scratched on a vessel of dark color. 
The ornament and the two borders are painted in white. The 
ornament c is painted in red on a light, yellowish- white vessel. 
The former vessel appears to have no other decoration. Figures 
were painted on the second one, but, unfortunately, some of them 
are obliterated, and some are unrecognizable. I can find no anal- 
ogy for these two ornaments among the familiar hieroglyphs of the 
manuscripts. 

The existence of enameled vessels from Vera Paz is now also proved, 
partly by isolated specimens of the Sarg collection and partly by 
various fragments collected by Doctor Sapper in the ancient Indian 
settlements visited by him. Some of these vessels are greenish, some 
gray, and others, occasionally found in considerable quantities, are 
light-red. These vessels are distinguished from the well-known ancient 
American pottery by apparently having an actual glaze. As a rule 
they are beautifully made vessels in animal or human form, or they 
are face jars. From the Karwinski collection the Royal Musuem 
possesses a fine piece of this kind, d, representing the p^che-xolo, or 
tlacaxolotl, the tzimin of the Maya nations, the "tapir". Two others 
came into possession of the Royal Museum with the Uhle collection. 
One represents a parrot with open jaws holding a human face, like as 



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[BULL. 28 



in d. The other has the form of a beast of prey, a pitzotl (coati) or 
something of the sort. 

The Sarg collection contains the beautiful vessel from Coban (a, 
figure 24), which represents a toad, and another vessel of the same kind 





Fig. 24. Ornamented bowls from Guatemala. 



from Zamac, near Coban, which, it seems, is intended to represent a 
monke}^ but the front part of it is unfortunately broken oft". These 
vessels appear to be more frequent in Yucatan. The Archbishop of 
Merida Dr Crescentio Carrillo y Ancona, describes a similar vessel, in 



seleb] 



ANTIQUITIES OF GUATEMALA 



109 



the third volume of the Aiiales del Museo Nacional de Mexico, which 
was found when digging- the foundation for a new building in Puerto 
Progreso, near Merida (a, figure 25). These pieces seem to have been 
carried far to the north. In the Strebel collection is found the curious 
specimen (h, figure 2J:), which comes from the region of Atotonilco and 
Quimistlan, and also belongs to this class of vessels. Several face 
jars with bearded faces were found in Yucatan. Maudslay copies a 
similar glazed one from Copan. Entirely similar fragments of appar- 
ently glazed vessels were found in the excavations made by Mr 
Strebel at Zoncuautla in the district of Coatepec of the state of Vera 
Cruz. I have hitherto been unable to determine what kind of glaze 
is on these vessels, as rare and beautiful pieces were always concerned 
which could not be sacrificed to chemical investigation. However, 
there is hope that Mr Holmes, of Chicago," who at present is making a 




Fig. 25. Pottery vessels from Guatemala. 



special study of these vessels, will throw light on this question. The 
broad geographic area within which these pieces are found proves that 
in them we have to deal with ware which was distributed by trade. 
Even to-day, isolated places of manufacture — as, for example, Chi- 
nautla in Guatemala — provide the whole region within a radius of many 
days' journey with pottery wares. 

In ancient times beautiful pottery vessels were a much-prized ware. 
Landa tells of the Mayas that custom required them at the close of a 
feast to give to each guest a mantle, a carved stool, and a pottery 
vessel, as delicate and costly as the host could afford. In the present 
state of our knowledge it can not be stated in what region these glazed 
vessels were made. Only so much can be said, that it must have been 
a region of the tierra caliente, or lying very near it, where the tapir, 
the parrot, the coati, the monkey, and the toad of the tierra caliente 

a Now of the Bureau of American Ethnology. Ed. 



110 BUEEAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull.28 

were known.« My suspicion turns to Tabasco or the neighboring 
Chiapas. In ancient times the former was a famous commercial cen- 
ter, and the industrial centers can not have been far from there. 

If we sum up what the authentic discoveries from the territory of 
Vera Paz, the lands of Qu'ekchi and Pokonchi, teach us, it follows with 
certainty from the abundance and variety of objects and from their 
artistic conception and peculiar manner of decoration that the ancient 
inhabitants of these regions were a people of advanced civilization, 
and that their culture was of the same peculiar stamp to be met with 
in the monuments of Copan and Quirigua, although in an entirely dif- 
ferent degree of grandeur. At the same time it seems that we must 
conclude from various evidences that the active intercourse existing 
between Laguna de Terminos and Honduras in ancient times, to which 
doubtless the above-named places owed their prosperity, also made 
itself felt in the valleys of Vera Paz by influencing their progress 
and by stimulating and developing them. 

It would be a grateful task to determine whether for the other Maya 
tribes of Guatemala, who were especially prominent in its political 
development, the Quiche and Cakchiquel, the Mame in the north, the 
Pokomam in the south, a similar close connection with those brilliant 
centers of Maya culture can be determined, and, on the other hand, to 
make plain the possible differences which existed. Unfortunately, 1 
have not the material to do so. I can only say this, that the few origi- 
nals and copies from those regions with which I am familiar are m fact 
of a different character, and have not the artistic perfection which 
we see in the finds from Vera Paz. Circular bowls, 6 cm. deep and 
16 cm. in diameter, are characteristic of Amatitlan, a locality in the 
Pokomam territory. These vessels have a broad, flat, turned-over 
rim, and their outer surface has two or three rows of long teeth (see 
c figure 25). A toothed vessel of another form somewhat higher and 
smaUer, and with rather long feet, was obtained by Consul-General 
Sarg in Nebah— that is, in the Ixil (Mame) territory. Shoe vessels, 
which are properly called xe lahuh, "foot of the ten", seem to be 
peculiar to the place called Quetzaltenango, in the Quiche territory; 
5, figure 25, is a copy of one of these vessels. This difl'ers from the 
familiar shoe vessels of Nicaragua chiefly in the pointed tip. 

I know of a few beautiful pottery heads and a fragment of a finely 
smoothed vessel from Saculeu, which is in the department of Huehue- 
tenango, and thus belongs also to the Mame territory. On these are 
seen the signs reproduced in a, figure 26. The ornament on the left 
side, an eye with a double (upper and lower) eyebrow, also appears 

aToad figures with the same indented warts on the sides of the neck as shown in the vessel (a fig. 
24) I have also seen in large vessels from Yucatan and in little pottery pipes of the btrebel collec- 
tion whilh came from the region south of the city of Vera Cruz, on the boundary of MistequUla, where 
excavations have recently been begun by him. 



selee] 



ANTIQUITIES OF GUATEMALA 



111 



on fragments from Copan/' There is, further, a vessel now in the Uni- 
versity Museum in Philadelphia said to have come from the region of 
Huehuetenango, which, I believe, I saw at the exposition in Madrid, 
the hieroglyphs of which Professor Brinton has reproduced. They 
are actually the same characters which we see on the stelse of Copan, 
executed in very curious and, in places, rather carelessly drawn lines — 
namely, the katun sign in the same two modifications which occur, 
for instance, on Stela C of Copan, and among them are also katun 
numerals and a row of other hieroglyphs. In 5, figure 26, I give the 
first two signs on the right side of this vessel, as I copied them two 
years ago in Madrid, and beside them the corresponding hieroglyphs 
of Stela A of Copan. Doubtless we are here concerned with a piece 




Fig. 26. Symbolic figures from Guatemalan pottery . 



which came, either through trade or as a present, from the region of 
the Chols or Chortis in the western highlands, whose inhabitants were 
familiar with the art of writing. Finally, I will mention that one of 
the remarkable stone yokes— a simple, undecorated one— that came 
into possession of the Eoyal Museum from the collection of Professor 
von Seebach, is said to have come originally from Quiche or Cakchiquel 
territory, namely, from Solola. This would be remarkable, for the 
reason that most of the regions where these inexplicable articles have 
been found are on the Atlantic slope, in the present States of Vera 
Cruz and Tabasco. 

Wedged in between the Quiche and the Chorti tribes, separating the 
Pokomams from the kindred Pokonchis, there is found in the valley of 

a See Brinton, A Primer of Mayan Hieroglyphs, 1894, p. 107, flg. 63. 



112 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

the Kio Grande, or Motagua, and the heights rising above it, another 
separate territory whose extreme boundaries are formed by the region 
of Salama on the one side and the Copan river on the other, where in 
ancient times a branch of the Pipils, a Nahuatl-speaking tribe, was 
settled. Stoll relates a local tradition which exists in Salama, telling 
bow these Mexicans were first brought from Tuxtla Grande in Spanish 
times. On this account the people of Salama wear the same costume 
to-day as those of Tuxtla. This tradition did not seem very credible 
to Stoll himself. 1 am inclined to think that too late a date was given. 
An actual tradition may have existed that the people of Salama came 
from those regions, but the immigration must have occurred in 
pre-Spanish times. 

The spread of the Nahua tribe toward the south, according to my 
conviction, proceeded in general from Tabasco, for the Zapotec tribes 
have probably always formed a barrier in the way through Tehuantepec 
and the Sierra de los Quelenes, which Ahuitzotl, the predecessor of Mote- 
cuhzoma first succeeded in breaking. But from Tabasco the Mexicans 
must have penetrated at an early date to Chiapas and Soconusco on 
the roads which Bernal Diaz and his companions who settled at Coat- 
zacualco easily found later. The Nahuas reached the valley of the 
Motagua, and farther Honduras, San Salvador, and Nicaragua, by the 
great overland road which Cortes traveled with his army. The 
Pipils of Escuintla are probably a receding stream of this migratory 
wave. A third branch must finally have found its way to the interioi 
of Yucatan. This is known from historical accounts in the books of 
the Chilan Balam, and to my mind is made still clearer by the reliefs 
of Chichenitza. On all of these three highways the Nahua tribes 
came into more or less close contact with the Maya tribes. An inter- 
change of cultural elements doubtless took place, and probably 
resulted still more abundantly from the peaceful journey ings of 
Mexican merchants, not undertaken for the purpose of finding a per- 
manent home. One of the most important and most interesting prob- 
lems of Central American archeology is the question how this giving 
and receiving was distributed. We shall, however, not be able to 
approach the solution of this matter until carefully collected and com- 
plete archeologic material exists from these border regions of inter- 
mixture, where the Nahua tribes lived as neighbors of the Mayas. 
What remarkable disclosures may eventually be expected in this matter 
is shown by the interesting relief tiles from Chiapas in the Museo 
National de Mexico, which are published in the great illustrated work 
which the Junta Colombina de Mexico issued in commemoration of 
the four hundredth centenary of the discovery of America. And then, 
too, the magnificent monuments of Santa Lucia Cozumalhuapa certainly 
originated at just such a point of contact between Nahuatl and Maya 
civilizations. 



seler] 



ANTIQUITIES OF GUATEMALA 



113 



The sketches of three vessels, which I reproduce below, came to me 
through the kindness of Mr Dieseldortf from the above-mentioned 
Pipil territory on the Rio Motagua. They come from the little place 
Rio Hondo, lying on the Motagua opposite the mouth of the Copan 
river, and belong to the collection of Mr B. Castaiieda in Zacapa. The 
first vessel (c, figure 26) has a height of 16.3 cm. and a diameter at the 
bottom of 10.5 cm. and at the mouth of 16 cm., and the thickness of 
the walls is -i mm. The second vessel (f, figure 2Y) is 17.2 cm. high, 
13.5 cm. in diameter at the mouth, and the thickness of its walls is 
5 mm. The figure and the hieroglyph tablet are repeated three times 



m ^ ^ 




Fig. 27. Glyphs from Maya codices and design on Guatemalan vessel. 

on the circumference of the vessel, but the drawing is badly injured by 
fire. The third vessel (a, figure 28) is 22.6 cm. high, the diameteV 
measures at the bottom 12.7 cm., at the mouth 15.8 cm., and the walls 
are 6 mm. thick. 

The first of these three vessels is of pure Maya character. The 
figures, as well as the hieroglyphs, might have been copied directly 
from a Maya manuscript. The second is also unmistakably of Maya 
character, though the position of the figure is decidedly stiffer. The 
third, however, has an especial character. The models of its figures can 
only be found in Mexican or kindred manuscripts (Mixtec and Zapotec), 
and what hieroglyphs there are differ in every way from the familiar 
7238— No. 28—05 8 



114 



BUEEAU OF AMERICA]^ ETHNOLOGY 



[bull. 28 



forms in Mava hieroglyphs. If it is true of any specimen, we have 
in this vesseUhe artistic production of a nation foreign to the Maya 
soil. It is in all probability to be ascribed to the Pipils, the Nahua 
tribe, who undoubtedly lived here a long time before the conquest. 

To begin with, the vessel of pure Maya type (c, figure 26), the person- 
ages represented on it are women. This is especially proved by the 
long Wisps of hair iiying down in front, which can be seen in quite 
similal- fashion on the female forms in the Dresden manuscript. The 
position of the arms and hands is a favorite one in the figures of gods 
in the Mexican picture writings, especially in the Borgian codex and 
Codex Vatican us B, which, however, appears also m the Dresden 
manuscript, for example, in the Moan bird, on page 11«. The raised 
or otitstretched hand is evidently a gesture of speech or of command, 




5 c '^ 

Fig. 28. Design on Guatemalan vessel and figures from Mexican codices. 

which, in fact, and especially in this case, are the same thing, for 
tlahtouani, or tlauto, "the speaker '\ means the ruler, the prince 
The clothing of the figures seems to consist of an enagua, a cloth 
wrapped about the hips like a petticoat and fastened about the middle 
of the body with a band. Those objects seem to be the ends of this band 
which are' seen to rise above the enagua and fall down behind. The 
figures are represented sitting with crossed legs. Protruding from the 
enagua is the bare left thigh and below this the naked sole ot the right 
foot, a typical position which is very often drawn in the Dresden man- 
uscript But the lines in our picture are so displaced as to give the 
impression that the drawing is not from life, but from a familiar picture 
repeated in a stereotyped way. 

The same impression is made in studying the hieroglyphs. I have 



^='^^'=Rl ANTIQUITIES OF GUATEMALA 115 

every reason to believe that the drawing- which I reproduce here is an 
exact copy. Yet I have the impression that the artist, whether man 
or woman, who painted these characters on the vessel was not con- 
scious of the meaning- of their different elements and lines, and there- 
fore drew them with an uncertain hand. An exact identification is, 
of course, only possible in the case of a few. All eight hieroglyphs 
diflfer one from another, so the next question is. Where should we 
begin to read? The relative position of the hieroglyphs shows that 
they must be read from left to right. I believe we must begin with 
the hieroglyph which in the drawing provided by Mr Dieseldorff, 
(our c, figure 26), stands in the first place at the left. I will designate 
this by A. 

I believe that two elements must be recognized in this first hiero- 
glyph: First, the head of a woman (see the hieroglyph «, figure 27), 
but having a peculiar element which is contained in the day sign Eb, 
"broom", 5; second, the day sign Manik, c, whose phonetic sound is 
chi, which is contained in the hieroglyph Chikin, "west". A com- 
bination of these two elements exists in the hieroglyph ^, which is 
found on page 62 of the Dresden manuscript, in combination, to be 
sure, with a third element which has the form of the day sign Imix. 

The second hieroglyph, b, must, it seems to me, refer to the hiero- 
glyph e, which appears in the Dresden codex, page 12J, as one of the 
accompanying hieroglyphs of the death god in place of the hieroglyph 
/, otherwise indicated in this place. Hieroglyphs b and e are especially 
characterized as death hieroglyphs by the cross design on the cheek. 

It is possible that hieroglyph d also refers to one of the hieroglyphs 
accompanying the death god, the one of which I have reproduced two 
variants in g and A. 

The hieroglyphs c and e show the head of a bird which in both cases 
has a curious projection on the beak. One might think that the great 
vulture was represented here whose hieroglyph, «", h, is always drawn 
with a peculiar projection on the beak and which, in fact, is character- 
ized by a fleshy growth on the cere covering the root of the upper 
mandible. I believe, however, that, at least in one of the hieroglyphs, 
it seems to suggest a bird which generally appears accompanying the 
black god. I have reproduced the whole of this bird in m, and its 
hieroglyph, as it is found in the Troano codex, page 4* c, in I. The bird 
probably represents the wild fowl of the forest region of the tierra 
caliente, which was generally called " pheasant" by the Spaniards, and 
for which the Maya has the two names cox and mut. The Mexicans 
designate this bird by the former name, and also by the word cox- 
coxtli. I believe that this bird must be mentioned in connection with 
a female deity known among the Mayas of Yucatan under the name of 
\ ax cocahmut, in honor of whom feasts were celebrated in the Muluc 
years, which belonged to the north. From her they feared dryness 



116 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY t^uLi^-28 

and drought. The old women danced at her festivals, sacrificed a young 
female dog to her, and brought her a simple, unembroidered white 
garment. I think that it certainly follows from these characteristics 
that it was a form of the ancient earth goddess who was worshipped 
under this name. I call to mind that the earth goddess is also repre- 
sented repeatedly in the form of a bird in the Borgian codex and the 
Codex Vaticanus B; that in Maya the word cox, or cocox, means not 
only "pheasant", but also "dry, withered, woody fruit , and that the 
mythical king of Colhuacan, where Ciauocuatl, the earth goddess, was 
tribal goddess, is called Coxcoxtli. ... .^ 

1 find the sixth hieroglyph of our picture, f, again mn from the 
Troano codex, page 19*c, where it appears interchangeably with the 
hieroglyph o as companion of the hieroglyph^.. The latter hieroglyph, 
which is the leading hieroglyph in this passage, appears to me to 
express the ofiering of copal or incense. In the former I think 1 
recognize the rattle which regularly accompanies such acts of worship. 
Compare the pictures of the rattle which I have given m q. I ca U to 
mind that in Mexican representations, both in stone and picture 
painting, and also in the Borgian codex and in Codex Vaticanus B, 
the earth goddess is always represented with the Chicauaztli, the rattle 

board, in her hand. ^ i +^ 

The remaining hieroglyphs of our picture, g and h, are not cleai to 
me but I notice that the ftrst element of the hieroglyph g appears in 
the chief hieroglyph, r, of the bat god on the vessel from Chama,« pub- 
lished by Mr Dieseldorff, and that another hieroglyph of this vessel, s, 
is perhaps directlv analogous to our hieroglyph G. 

The hieroglyphs as a whole appear to me to express an ancient earth 
goddess who received in her lap the sun and the light and everything 

^™! will now pass to the vessel t, figure 27. The figure which, with 
the hieroglyph tablet, is repeated on this vessel three times is that of a 
man This is shown by the breechcloth, with ends hanging tar down, 
but which is here accompanied by a short cloth about the hips made 
of thin veiling or netlike woven material. The body is painted yellow. 
The position of the arms and hands corresponds to that of the female 
figures in the vessel just discussed, and probably has the same mean- 
ino- Two appendages hang out from the gigantic headdress formed of 
loops and bands, and these have apparently at their ends two jaguar 
ears The reading of the hieroglyphs begins at the right with g. it 
is evident that the hieroglyphs g, e, o and, in a similar way, f d, b 
seem to be related, while a is apparently identical with the two heads 
of birds on the vertical hieroglyph tablet of the lower prmcipal part 
of the vessel. Thus we have here a case similar to that presented in 
the curious varnished vessel of Jaina, near Can^peche/Miesc^^ 

~~;™r^S;^r^^:nse.an. .nte..aUnn.. Ha..u.. 18S1. .. . 



^^i^^^l ANTIQUITIES OF GUATEMALA 117 

Mr Strebel — that is, primaril}^ an ornamental adaptation of one or more 
hieroglyphs, which are repeated with variations. Mr 8trebel is of 
opinion that each of these variants has its own special meaning, and it 
may indeed have been so in that particular case, for the symbols near 
the ear pegs partly recall the different signs on the so-called celestial 
shields, but in regard to our t, I incline to the opinion that we have 
here mere variants, and I consider the hieroglyphs g, e, c as the chief 
hieroglyphs of the person represented below, and f, d, b and the bird 
heads as companion hieroglyphs. 

The same case of the employment of ornamental hieroglyphs is also 
undoubtedly seen on the remarkable third vessel from Rio Hondo, 
whose decoration is reproduced in a, figure 28. This vessel, as I have 
already stated above, in all probability is to be considered as an artistic 
production of the Nahua tribe of the Pipils, which doubtless had been 
settled for a long time in these regions. We must not seek the proto- 
types of the figures represented on it in Maya manuscripts or in Maya 
sculptures, but in Mexican picture writings, or in those of the Mixtecs 
or Zapotecs, which are akin to them in style. Similarity of style 
between our vessel and the last named appears clearly, both in the posi- 
tion and in the dress of the figures. The figures are clothed with a sort 
of shirt, the xicolli, which is worn by the rain god Tlaloc, and also by 
the priests, in Mexican picture writings, and which is especially 
frequent on the figures in the Mixtec picture writings as the Colom- 
bino codex (Dorenberg codex), Becker codex, and the Vienna codex. 
Besides this shirt, the figures seem to wear a short loin cloth, which is 
also quite commonly drawn on the figures of the Colombino codex . 
(Dorenberg codex). On the front of this, in our figures, there is a 
mask. This is a peculiarity of dress which I have not yet met with in 
purely Mexican documents, but have in those from the more southerly 
regions of the Mixtecs and the Zapotecs. In the collection of Doctor 
Sologuren, in Oaxaca, I saw two pottery figures which came from La 
Cienaga, in the department of Zimatlan, which plainly show this 
peculiarity of dress. On a sheet of the Aubin-Goupil collection, a 
piece of leather painted in gay colors, evidently also of Mixtec origin, 
the five male deities all wear a mask in front on the girdle. This page 
is reproduced in page 20 of the Goupil-Boban Atlas with the legend 
"Le culte rendu a Tonatiuh".« 
Further, the large headdress is conspicuous on the figures in our 

a In fact, the page forms one of the frequent representations of the tonalamatl, divided according 
to the five points, the center, or the direction up and down, and the four points of the compass. To 
each division were assigned a male and a female deity and their different attributes. The 2x5, 
that is, 10, dates in the circle doubtless refer to these deities. Their names areCe Mazatl, Ce Quiauitl,' 
Ce Ozomatli, Ce Calli, Ce Quauhtli, and Macuil Cuetzpalin, Macuil Cozcaquauhtli, Macuil'Tochtli| 
Macuil Xochitl, and Macuil Malinalli. They correspond to the directions in the order E N up' 
down, W., and S. ' " 

It may be added that this is the page which Alfred Chavero copied in the first volume of the work 
Mexico a traves de los siglos under the name, " Parte superior de la piedra policroma del sacrificio 
gladiatorio" (!) 



118 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull.28 

picture. It consists, as usual, of a crown of stiff feathers, from which 
rise long, slender, flexible feathers. On the forehead is seen an open 
jaw with prominent teeth, and at the back of the head a disk and a 
bandlike piece with crosshatching. These three elements, and the 
black stripes connected with them, seem to me like the rudiments of a 
head decoration which occurs with great regularity in the pictures of 
the sun god and its allied forms in Mexican picture writings, especially 
in the Borgian codex, the Laud codex, etc. This head ornament con- 
sists of a leather strap ornamented with disks of turquoise, or chal- 
chiuitl, and has on the front part a kind of bird's head with open jaws 
and prominent teeth. In 5, figure 28, 1 reproduce the head of the sun 
god according to the Laud codex, and I have marked the leather strap 
(painted red in the original) with its bands at the back of the head 
with crosshatching. I remark further that not only is this decoration 
peculiar to the sun god and his allied forms, but that other deities 
wear a different symbol in the same place. 1 have pictured in c and d 
two other deities from the related Fejervary codex. The first, a dark, 
aged, bearded god, perhaps the moon god, wears on his forehead a 
sea-skail shell. The other, d, the god Quetzalcoatl, vulgarly called 
the "wind god", wears on his forehead the hieroglyph "turquoise". 
Under the upper disk, fastened to the head strap, there is still a sec- 
ond disk visible on the figures in our picture, which is, of course, the 
ear peg. I should prefer to explain the curved strip which is seen 
under the lower edge as a lock of hair, in connection with what is 
seen in h to d. Still it might be a ribbon or an ornament pendent from 
the ear peg. Ends of locks of hair are also seen in the first of the two 
figures, a, under the head strap above the forehead. The peculiarly 
bordered and peculiarly painted portion at the back of the cheek prob- 
ably indicates a special manner of painting the face. In the pictures 
of the pulque gods, and also in those of Quetzalcoatl, and of the moon 
god and others, the back part of the face is painted in a color different 
.from that of the front part. 

Like the majority of the Mexican mythologic characters, the fig- 
ures in our picture wear a feather decoration on the back— their device. 
This consists of a basketlike frame, something like that with wliich 
the godXolotl is represented in the calendars of the Codices Telleriano- 
Remensis and Vaticanus A, from which rise immense feathers, while 
a mask is placed behind this, and one on the girdle in front. 

If we further examine the hieroglyphs, it is at once evident that in 
the upper row three of the hieroglyphs, f, d, and b, figure 28, are 
only recapitulations of the heads of the personages represented below. 
The face is the same. The back part of the cheek is also specially 
defined in the hieroglyphs, and marked by special coloring. Behind 
this is the ear peg with its appendage. Above that rises the bandlike 
piece with the crosshat«ihed ornamentation— the loop of the head strap, 



SELEE] ANTIQUITIES OF GUATEMALA 119 

I suppose — the upper (head strap) part, of course, incomplete. Over 
the forehead we have again the two locks of hair as in the first of the 
persons represented below in full figure. The only element which 
might appear doubtful is that which projects from the forehead in the 
three hierogl3^phs. But even that is in no way doubtful to me. The 
wide-open jaws, bristling with prominent teeth, which the full figures 
wear over the forehead, fastened to the strap, are replaced in the 
hieroglyphs by a row of teeth, such, for example, as are frequently 
indicated on the stone, or sacrificial, knives, to designate their sharp 
edge. 

While in this wa}^ the hieroglyphs f, d, and b are perfectly clear in 
all their details, I unfortunately can not say the same of the three 
others, e, c, and a. I do not know their meaning; but the study of 
them reveals that they are probably mere variants of the same accom- 
panying hierogWph. 

If we finally turn to the hieroglyphs drawn on the two vertical tab- 
lets, we again see that there are but two hieroglyphs, with three vari- 
ants of each. If I designate the hieroglyphs of the left tablet, passing 
from the upper one to the lowest, as g, h, i, and those of the right 
one, as k, l, m, then g, k, l are one hieroglyph, and apparently the 
chief one, and h, i, m, the other, the companion hieroglyph. Since 
both are forms with which I have not met elsewhere I can only ven- 
ture to advance a conjecture as to their meaning. 

The hieroglyphs h, i, and m show, as the most characteristic and 
essential element, a double zigzag line passing obliquely across the 
rest of the hierogylph, in addition to the crosshatched space at 
the side, outlined by a double curved line. I can not help thinking 
that this double line, zigzag or wavy, is the same essential element 
which appears in the hierogylphs a and c, otherwise a puzzle to me, 
and on this account I am led to suppose that h, i, m is only the com- 
panion hieroglj^ph, e, c, a, become alcul-shaped and abbreviated into 
one character. If this be the case, one might be led to suppose that 
G, K, L is the principal hieroglyph abbreviated into one character and 
changed to alcul-shaped. Indeed, it seems to me as though some 
essential element of the latter were contained in the alcul-shaped char- 
acter G, K, L — the eye, the locks of hair over the forehead, and per- 
haps the cross-hatched piece at the back of the head. With these the 
analog}^ appears to stop. But there is still another element of the 
chief hieroglyph contained in g, k, l, and perhaps precisely the one 
which seemed most essential to the artist; I mean the row of teeth on 
the forehead. 

In the comparative examination of the separate elements which are 
employed in the Maya hieroglj^phs, I have previously noticed '^ that 
certain signs, which I was obliged to explain as expressing an open 

a See my treatise on the character of the Aztec and Maya manuscripts in Zeitschrift fiir Ethnologie, 

1888, V. 20, p. 8. 



120 



BUEEAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



[BULL. 28 



jaw containing formidable teeth, appear as substitutes for and liave 
the same value as others which I am forced to explain as signs for 
"stone knives". The former, which I copy, d to % figure 29, Doctor 
Brinton reproduced in his latest treatise on Maya hieroglyphs under 
the name of "crescentic signs". This designation is, to my mind, 
somewhat misleading. He considers these signs, especially e, which 
is quite frequently placed on the neck, that is, at the mouth of jars 
and vessels, as neckbands. I observe in this connection that /appears 
in relief tablets from Palenque in the form of I, and that the sign 
Ahau, which usually has the form of c, appears in the same tablets 
from Palenque in the form of «, that is, what in c is a simple mouth 
opening in a has the form of the element that Brinton explains as a 
neckband. I need not dwell longer on this, and merely observe that 
I can cite a dozen hieroglyphs where the element d to /, which, as is 







i 



d e f g h I 

Fig. 29. Adjunct glyphs from Maya codices. 

shown by comparing these with figures d and J, is, in fact, a toothed 
jaw, replaced by the element k. If we turn back to figure 28, we 
may admit, I think, that the element seen below in the hieroglyphs 
G, K, L, and also in h has a certain relation to I', which means a stone 
knife and is analogous to the elements which mean "jaw", "mouth". 
Should not, therefore, the essential element in g, k, l, the row of 
teeth on the forehead of the principal hieroglyph f, d, b, be consid- 
ered equal to the open jaw bristling with teeth on the forehead of the 
personages represented in full figure? 

But even if we leave out these doubtful points, it is nevertheless 
definitely shown ])y the form and nature of the principal hieroglyph, 
F, D, B, that we do not see in this third vessel from Rio Hondo— that 
is, the Pipil vessel- an imitation of Maya decoration and of Maya 
hieroglyphs. The hieroglyphs f, d, b, perhaps also the others, have 



SEi^ER] THE MEXICAN CHRONOLOGY 121 

grown out of the elements of the person represented on the vessel, and 
represent rather an earlier stage of alcul-shaped hieroglyphs of the 
Maya kind than an imitation of them. 

In conclusion I would say that 1 have been able to emphasize only a 
few definite points in a wide and interesting territory, which, unfor- 
tunately, like most of the regions of ancient Mexican and Central 
American civilizations, is little explored. But I believe the preceding 
remarks will show that we may hope that more complete archeologic 
research will further enlighten us in regard to the early history of 
these ancient peoples, and will make comprehensible the incomplete, 
uncertain, and contradictory reports of the historian. It is to be 
hoped that our young countrymen who go to these regions will follow 
the example of Mr Dieseldorff and Doctor Sapper, and will, above all, 
bear in mind that the dumb witnesses of a past world, recovered from 
the earth, should not be buried anew in a drawing room, but that their 
place is in a public institution, where they can be preserved for pos- 
terity, and where, classed with kindred documents, they may be sub- 
jected to careful comparison, and in this way be made to speak. 



THE MEXICAK PICTURE WRITINGS OF ALEXANDER 
YON HUMBOLDT 

IN THE ROYAL LIBRARY AT BERLIN 



EDXJARD SELER 



123 



CONTENTS 



Page 

Preface : 127 

Fragment I, plates i-v 128 

Fragment II, plate vi I54 

Fragments III and IV, plates vii and viii 176 

Fragment V, plate ix . . .' , 187 

Fragment VI, plate x 190 

Fragment VII, plate xi 19g 

Fragment VIII, plate xii 200 

Fragments IX, plate x; X, XI, and XII, plates xiii, xiv (A and B) xv 209 

Fragment XIII, plate xvr 212 

Fragment XIV, plate xvii 217 

Fragment XV, plate xvni 221 

Fragment XVI, plate xix 221 

Conclusion 228 

125 



MEXICAN PICTURE WRITINGS OF ALEXANDER 
VON HUMBOLDT" 



By Eduard Seler 



PEEFACE 



The sixteen fragments of ancient Mexican picture writing, which 
are reproduced in colored plates, belong to a " remarkable collection 
made in the year 1803 in the kingdom of New Spain ", which was 
"presented to the Koyal Library by Baron Alexander von Hum- 
boldt, in January, 1806 ". This statement is made by Friedrich 
Wilken, on pages 155-156 of his History of the Royal Library of 
Berlin, printed in the year 1828. Wilken mentions " thirteen frag- 
ments of historical hieroglyphic writing of the Aztecs upon paper 
made from the fiber of the Agave americana, together with a codex 
14 feet in length belonging to it, in similar hieroglyphic writing". 
The number does not correspond with the number of pieces now in 
the library, for, according to his statement, there should be but 14. 
The reason of this is that two of the original strips were cut in half, 
lengthwise, and pasted on the same folio page, side by side. These 
are the pieces shown in plates ix, x, xi, and xii, as I shall describe 
more in detail in the course of my explanation of these pieces. With 
the exception of fragment I, which has been preserved in its original 
form as "the folded codex", all the pieces are pasted upon folio 
pages and bound together in an atlas. The title page is reproduced 
in the heliotype atlas. It has been retained, although the historic 
and archeologic remarks which it contains do not harmonize with 
our present knowledge of these subjects. 

Alexander von Humboldt, M^ho copies and describes fragment II 
of the collection in his Vues des Cordilleres et Monuments des Peuples 
Indigenes de I'Amerique, plate xii, under the title " Genealogie des 
Princes d'Azcapozalco ", states that he bought the document in 
Mexico at the public sale of the collections of Gama (the well- 
known astronomer and author of the work Las dos Piedras, whose 
full name was Antonio de Leon y Gama). Humboldt suggests that 



a Berlin, 1893. 

127 



128 BUEEAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

it may formerly have belonged to the " Museo Incliano " of the 
Milanese historian and antiquary, Cavaliere Lorenzo Boturini Ber- 
naducci. Since various other of these fragments, as I shall here- 
after show, certainly did belong to Boturini's collection, and we 
know that Gama actually knew of, used, and possessed a great part 
of Boturini's collection, we may venture to conjecture that the 
other pieces of the collection brought together by Alexander von 
Humboldt were acquired in the same way. 

Fragments II and VI were published and described by von Hum- 
boldt in the above-mentioned illustrated work, Vues des Cordilleres 
et Monuments des Peuples Indigenes de I'Amerique. Only a small 
part of fragment II, however, was reproduced, and that without the 
explanatory notes which accompany it, and neither of the two frag- 
ments was quite perfectly and correctly reproduced. Fragments I 
and II have also appeared in colors in the second volume of Kings- 
borough's great work, Mexican xintiquities. Fragment II, however, 
is without the explanatory notes. Close examination readily shows 
that neither is by any means accurately nor exactly reproduced, either 
in drawing or color. The whole collection was exhibited in the year 
1888 in the rooms of the Royal Library, with the other manuscripts 
and printed matter relating to the history and languages of America, 
during the sessions of the International Americanist Congress at 
Berlin. The four hundredth anniversary of the day on which 
Columbus first trod the soil of the New World gave the managers of 
the Royal Library the desired opportunity to render the entire col- 
lection more accessible for general use by multiplying it, photograph- 
ically at least, as their means did not then admit of reproduction in 
colors. To me was intrusted the honorable task of accompanying 
those pages with a few words of explanation, for which I herewith 
express my thanks to the administration of the Royal Library. 

FRAGMENT I 

This fragment (plates ii to vi) is a strip of agave paper 1.3 m. long 
and somewhat more than 8 cm. wide, painted on one side and then 
folded fourteen times, thus making a book about a foot in length. 
The painted side is divided lengthwise by vertical lines into 5 strips, 
and by other lines cutting the former at right angles into 75 sections. 
I will designate the longitudinal strips from right to left by the let- 
ters A, B, c, D, and E (plates ii to vi) , and the subdivisions bcginning^it 
the bottom— for there the reading begins— by the figures 1 to 75. 
The lower end is imperfect. It is obvious that there was still another 
-ection below, which was painted in simihu- fashion and possibly 
formed the end of an entire missing row. The upper end IcK^ks as 
if it had been sharply cut off. As the entries of nuiteriiil objects 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



BULLETIN 28 PLATE II 




MEXICAN PAINTING-HUMBOLDT FRAGMENT I, PART 1 



SELEK] MEXICAlSr PICTURE WRITINGS FRAGMENT I 129 

(columns c to e) cease in the fifth section from the top, it may be 
assumed that this was the end of the strip, and that it was not further 
written upon because, for some reason, the entries ceased altogether. 

In column b four pictures follow one another in regular repetition. 
These I will designate by a, b, c, and d, proceeding from below 
upward. Thus we have a in sections 1, 5, 9, 13, etc., b in sections 2, 6, 
10, 14, etc., c in 3, 7, 11, 15, etc., d in 4, 8, 12, 16, etc. 

The picture a, plate ii, shows a dark-colored face with a large 
round eye, a row of long tusks, and over the lips an angular blue 
stripe curved downward and rolled up at the ends. This is the 
familiar face of the rain, thunder, and mountain god of the Mexi- 
cans — Tlaloc by name^a face the features of which were supposed 
to be produced originally by the coils of two snakes, their mouths, 
with long fangs in the upper jaw, meeting in the middle of the upper 
lip." The face of the rain god here stands for his chief festival, the 
sixth (according to the usual reckoning) of the eighteen annual fes- 
tivals of the Mexicans, known as Etzalqualiztli, that is, " when they 
eat bean food " (beans cooked with whole kernels of maize).'' 

The second of the four pictures (b, column b) is a white strip 
painted over with black acute-angled figures, wound about with a red 
band, from which Iavo j^ellow tufts protrude at the top. The white 
strip painted with angular figures represents a so-called teteuitl, or 
ama-teteuitl, a strip of white bark paper (the inner bark of a variety 
of fig) upon which certain figures are drawn with liquid caoutchouc. 
These teteuitl were in general use as sacrificial gifts. At the feast 
of the rain gods they were hung upon long poles in the courtyard of 
the house ; " they were fastened on the breast of the small idols of the 
mountain gods,'^ and were burned in honor of the fire gods." 

These were easih^ prepared images of the gods to which they were 
offered. The picture of the god, or his symbol, was drawn on the 
paper with caoutchouc.'' The red band which is wound around the 
paper is a leather strap of the kind that were much used, either col- 
ored or gilded, as ribbons and for ornamental purposes.*' And, finally, 
the yellow tufts which protrude at the top represent a broom. These 
brooms were made of a hard, stiff, pointed grass, which was cut with 
sickles in the mountainous forests of Popocatepetl and Ajusco.'' The 
whole picture is a symbol of the old earth goddess called Toci, " our 

" See Seler, Das Tonalamatl der Aubinschen Sammlung, in Comptes Rendus du Sep- 
tieme Session du Congres International des American istes, Berlin, 1888, p. 584. 

* See Diu-an, v. 3, sec. 6 ; Sahagun, v. 2, chap. 6. 

<^ Sahagun, v. 2, chaps. 20 and 35. 

'' Sahagun, v. 2, chap. 32. 

« Sahagun, v. 9, chap. 3 ; v. 2, chap. 34. 

f See Sahagun, v. 9, chap. 3. 

B See the hieroglyph of Cuetlaxtlan, " The Land of Leather ", in the Mendoza codex, v 8, 
p. 21 ; V. 51, p. 1. 

"See Sahagun, v. 10, p. 24; v. 8, p. 61 (Bustamante edition), and a comment on the 
passage by the editor. 

7238— No. 28—05 9 



130 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



[BULL. 28 



progenitrix ", or Teteo innan, " mother of the gods ", and of the 
eleventh (according to the usual reckoning) of the eighteen annual 
festivals of the Mexicans, Ochpaniztli, the " broom feast " or " house- 
cleaning festival ", celebrated in honor of this goddess. For the 
broom which svmbolizes one of the first domestic, that is, feminine, 
occupations, was a special symbol of this goddess, who was therefore 
also the goddess of purity, of purification and eradication of sin.« 
The teteuitl paper with which the broom is bound together is m our 




Fig. .30. Headdresses and f.ags from Mexican codices. 

picture b painted with figures which again denote an attribute of 
the same goddess. The Mexicans in their paintings represented the 
raw, unspun cotton by acute-angled figures or groups of parallel lines 
on a white ground. Cotton, as a material for woman's work, was for 
that reason one of the chief attributes of the above-mentioned deity. 
Her headband (see a, figure 30) called i-ichcaxochiuh, "her headband 
of cotton '\ was made of that material.^' A strip of unspun cotton 
hung from her ear peg and loose cotton was bound to the end of the 
spindle which she wore between the hair and the headband {r and d, 
figure 30). 

~" Seler Das Tonalamatl der Aubinschen Sammluno;, volume cited, p. 6.51. 

" Veroffentlichiingen aus dem Konigliclien Museum fiir Volkerkunde, v. 1. p. 148. 



SELBR] MEXICAN PICTUEE WEITINGS FEAGMENT I 131 

In c and d, figure 30, we also see a paper covered with drawings of 
cotton fastened to the back of the goddess's head. That iha paper in 
our picture b, painted with the acute-angled figures, is, like the 
broom, a symbol of the earth goddess is most clearly shown by the 
fact that the broom which, in her picture, the goddess Toci carries in 
her hand is wound round with paper similarly painted. Thus we 
see it in &, figure 30, which is taken from the picture in the Sahagun 
manuscript of the Bibliotheca del Palacio at Madrid, which repre- 
sents the various ceremonies of the feast Ochpaniztli. 

The third picture in the column, which I designate by c (plate ii), 
represents a flag apparently made of striped woven stuff, with stream- 
ers of the same material fastened to its top. Such flags were, it 
seems, called quachpamitl— deri^^ed from quachtli, " a square piece of 
woven cloth ", and pamitl, " flag ". Among the Mexicans, as among 
the nations of the Old World, flags and other insignia played an 
important part in war. The Mexicans, however, as a rule, did not 
carry these insignia free in their hands, but strapped upon their 
backs, though it seems that flags of the same sort and shape as the 
one represented in our picture c were also waved in the hand. The 
signal for battle was given Avith them, as we learn from Sahagun. 
Thus we read in the Aztec manuscript of the Academia de la His- 
toria at Madrid: " Yn quachpanitl, coztic teocuitlapanitl yoan quet- 
zalpanitl, yn teeuitia yyaoc: yn omottac ye meuatiquetzaya izqui 
quachpanitl, niman cemeua yaoquizque ynic miccali ". Sahagun 
(book 8, chapter 12) translates it somewhat inexactly: Tambien usa- 
ban de unas vanderillas de oro, las cuales en tocando al arma las 
levantaban en las manos, porque comenzasen a pelear los soldados 
(" They also used certain golden flags, which, when the call to arms 
was sounded, they raised in their hands, because the soldiers began 
to fight"). The correct translation is as follows: "The flag of 
woven stuff, the flag of plates of gold, and the one made of quetzal 
feathers, they call the people in war time to prepare for battle. 
When men see how the quachpamitl (flags of woven stuff) are raised 
on every hand, then the warriors go forth to battle ". The raising 
of the flag, then, was ih^ signal to begin battle. Panquetzaliztli^ 
the raising of the flag, therefore, was the name of the festival— the 
fifteenth, according to the usual reckoning— which the Mexicans 
celebrated in honor of the god Uitzilopochtli, who was especially 
regarded as the god of combat and war. In Codices Telleriano- 
Remensis and Vaticanus A this festival is represented bv the figure 
of the god himself holding a flag in his hand {g, figure" 30), which 
shows essentially the same characteristics as the one in the picture c, 
plate II. Elsewhere the quachpamitl is painted by itself, as in later 



]^32 BTJBEAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

calendars, from which I reproduce the figure with the legend in 
e and, /, figure 30, and also in our picture c, plate ii, which illustrates 
the fifteenth annual festival, the feast Panquetzaliztli. 

Finally, the f ourtji picture, which I designated by d, plate ii, shows 
us the head of a well-known deity, the red god Xipe, whose original 
home was near Yopi, in the deep ravines of the Pacific slope, but 
whose worship was widely spread throughout the highlands, and par- 
ticularly in the capital, where it was celebrated with special pomp. 
It is a peculiar characteristic of this god that he goes about clad m a 
flayed human skin. Therefore, at his feast victims were not only 
slaughtered in the usual manner by tearing out the heart, which was 
offered up to him, but afterward the corpse was flayed and its skm 
put on by such persons as, for any reason, wished to show the god 
special devotion. It was worn by them continually during the twenty 
days following the festival. This feast, called Tlacaxipeualiztli, 
" man flaying "—the second, according to the usual reckoning— is 
represented in our picture d by the head of the god Xipe. 

Thus we have in a, b, c, and d of column b, plates ii and in, the pic- 
tures of four yearly festivals, namely, the sixth, eleventh, fifteenth, 
and second, according to the usual reckoning. The sixth feast was 
separated from the eleventh by 5X20, or 1,00, days: the eleventh 
from the fifteenth by 4X20, or 80, days; the fifteenth from the second 
by 5X20-1-5, or 105, days (in this interval fall the nemontemi, 
the five superfluous days, which were counted at the end of Izcalli), 
and, lastlv, the second was 4X20, or 80, days, distant from the sixth, 
giving a total of 100-f 80-f 105-f SO, or 365. These four festivals, it 
is true, do not divide the year into four quarters, except approxi- 
mately. It is as exact and regular as is possible in a year composed 
of eighteen parts of 20 days each and 5 superfluous days. 

We will now consider column a (see plates ii and iii), the first on 
the right hand of the strip. Here we invariably find, together with 
the feast Etzalqualiztli (a of column b), a picture and several small 
circles, which express a certain number. Here, again, we have four 
pictures, which follow one another from below upward in regu- 
lar alternation. I will designate these, beginning at the bottom, by 
a, /3, y, and 8. 

The first character, «', is composed of an eye, a vertical ray, and 
two lateral parts, probably derived from the drawing of a cross, the 
arms of which cut each other at a somewhat acute angle. This is 
the symbol of the four cardinal points (see the variant of this char- 
acter, e, figure 31, from the Sahagun manuscript of the Biblioteca 
Laurenziana) , but may, perhaps, have some connection with the 
drawing often found on spindle whorls (see a, 6, c, and d, same figure) 



SBLEE] 



MEXICAN PICTURE WRITOG8 FRAGMENT I 



133 



of two eyebrows surrounding- the hole of the spindle, supposed to be 
the eje. Compare k and I, figure 31, taken from a list of persons in 
the towns of lTexot;^inco and Xaltepetlapan (Mexican manuscript No 
3 of the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris) and denoting persons of 
the name of Olin. The whole character stands for the word olin, 
" that which rolls ". It is the seventeenth of the twenty day signs of 
the Mexicans, and was regarded as standing in special relation to the 
sun. The form which the character takes in our picture a-, plate ii, 
most resembles that which we see in Codices Telleriano-Remensis 
and Yaticanus A (see /, figure 31), and it is not wholly without sig- 




FiG. 31. 



Variations of the Mexican seventeenth day symbol. 



nificance in deciding the question of the origin of the picture writing 
under consideration. 

The second sign of column a, which I call /? (plate ii), represents 
the head of the wind god, Ehecatl, or Quetzalcoatl. He has a pro- 
truding, trumpetlike mouth, for the wind god blows (see also c, d, 
and e, figure 41). Generally speaking, this figure suggested whirls 
and circles. Hence his temples were built in circular form. The cap 
which he wears is cone-shaped. The ends of his headband and his 
breechclout are rounded. His head ornament is the spiral snail shell. 
He wears snail shells as a necklace, and his breast ornament, the eca- 
]lacatzcozcatl,'^ as well as his ear ornament, is carved from a huge 

pp!' jJs'f S"''^'""^'"' """^ "^"""^ Koniglichen Museum ftir Volkerkunde /^ Berlin, v. 1, 



^34 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

Whelk shell. The head of the wind god here stands for the second of 
the twenty day signs of the Mexicans, which was called Lhecatl 
" wind ". The form which the character has m our figure like^Mse 
resembles most the form which is drawn in Codices Telleriano- 
Eemensis and Vaticanus A. j ^-P ^ 

The third sign (r, plate in) in column a shows us the heaa ot a 
deer, which is most unnaturally drawn, having upper incisors, but is 
Sainlv intended to represent a deer, as is shown by the branching 
S. The seventh of the twenty day signs of the Mex.icans was 
desio-nated by the picture of the deer (Mazatl). 

T^e fourth sign) ^, is a death's-head, with fleshless jaw, a great, 
round eye with an eyebrow, and a protruding tongue, such a head as 
was customarily used among the Mexicans to represent deatia or the 
death cod. But here the skull is covered with a green bush, the sepa- 
rate stalks of which end in small yellow knobs. This green bush rep- 
resents grass, and is illustrative of the rope twisted of g-«^ (--^ ' 
nalli), which has been used from remote antiquity down to the pres- 
ent dav for cording heavy burdens, such as charcoal, etc. The whole 
denotes the twelftE of the twenty day signs of the Mexicans, called 
malinalli, "that which is twisted". The green bush is combined 
with the death's-head in this picture, because the rope twisted ot 
grass suo^gested the mummy bales corded with rope, like a burden 
Ihich has the form given to the bodies of the dead. Perhaps, too 
the grass icself, shooting up anew with the first showers of ram and 
then withering quickly, awakened the thought of the transitormess of 
earthly things. At any rate, it is a fact that malmalli was consid- 
ered a sign of misfortune; that decay, destruction, and change were 
supposed to follow swiftly in its train. We may also note "^ regard 
to the form of the sign that our picture S most closely resemb es the 
forms in which this sign of ill omen, malinalh, is represented m 
Codices Telleriano-Eemensis and Vaticanus A. 

The Mexican numerical system was vigesimal. Therefore the num- 
ber 20 naturally formed the basis of computation of time. The peo- 
ple designated "each one of the 20 consecutive days by a particular 
sign But with these twenty signs they combine the numerals 1 to 16 
in such a way that each of the consecutive days was designated by a 
sWn and a numeral. If, therefore, the numeral 1, combined with the 
fiTst sign, served to designate the first day, then the fourteenth day 
took the fourteenth sign, and also the numeral 1 again. Thus a pei^od 
of 13X20, or 260, days was reached as a higher chronologic unit. J^ or 
no day received the same numeral and the same sign until after the 
expiration of this period. The period of 13X20, or 260, days was 
called tonalamatl, " the book of the day signs ". 




MEXICAN PAINTING-HUM 



SELER] MEXICAN PICTURE WRITINGS FRAGMENT I 135 

The Mexicans reckoned 365 days to the year, and I have ah-eady 
stated that they divided the year into eighteen periods of 20 days 
each and 5 superfinons days, called nemontemi. These 5 superflnons 
days were regarded as unlucky days, as useless, fit for no serious 
business. Hence the ancient Mexicans said of them " acam pouhqui ". 
This undoubtedly means " they were held in no esteem ", but accord- 
ing to the original meaning of the words they may also signify '• they 
were not counted ". It has therefore been inferred that these 5 days 
were left blank; that the continuous series of signs and numerals 
was not applied to them. In an article which I presented to the 
Anthropologic Society at Berlin in the year 1891,« I pointed out that 
the whole Mexican system of designating the year — namely, that the 
consecutive days were designated by four signs, each two of which 
were 4 days apart— and the Mexican periods of 52 years were intel- 
ligible only if we assume that the 5 nemontemi, the superfluous days, 
were named and numbered in the same way as the others. Our 
manuscript, plate i of the present series, affords the best proof of 
this theory. 

In column b the pictures follow in regular alternation, and ap- 
proximately denote the beginning of every quarter of a year for a 
consecutive series of years. Besides the first of these, the symbol of the 
feast Etzalqualiztli, there are in column a numerals and signs which, 
taken together, denote each the date of a certain day. In the lowest 
of them, in square 1a (plate ii), the small circles, which represent the 
numerals, are imperfectly preserved. But from what remains, and 
from the connection of the whole series, it may be inferred that the 
numeral 12 should stand here. If we introduce this numeral we see 
that in column a (side by side with the Etzalqualiztli of column b, 
plates II to VI ) the following dates of days are given: 



Olln 


Ehecatl 


Mazatl 


Malinalli 


12 


13 


14 


2 


3 


4 


5 


6 


7 


8 


9 


10 


11 


12 


13 


14 


2 


3 


4 





Here the numeral 14,^ which does not really belong to the designa- 
tion of the days, is invariably to be read as " 1 ", for only the numerals 
1 to 13, as I have stated, are used in addition to the twenty characters 
to designate the consecutive days. 



" Zeitschrift fui- Ethnologie, v. 13, pp. 89-133. 

* The 14 in the manuscript is an error of the native artist. C. T. 



136 



BUREAU OF AMEEICAN ETHNOLOGY 
Table III. 



[BULL. 28 



Olein 

Tecpatl 

Quiauitl 

Xochitl 

Cipactli 

Ehecatl 

Calli 

Cuetzpalin 

Coatl 

Miquiztli 

Mazatli 

Tochtli 

Atl 

Itzcuintli 

Ozomatli 

Malinalli 

Acatl 

Ocelotl 

Quauhtli 

CozcaquauMli 



10 

11 

13 

13 

1 

2 

3 

4 

5 



10 

11 

12 

13 

1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 



O" 



110 



If after making this correction, we consult a table of the Mexican 
calendar, we see, assuming that the 5 nemontemi were named and 
numbered continuously in the same way as the other days, that tne 
dates of the days given in column a are always exactly 365 days 

apart. . i ■ ^ 

This, I think, clearly proves, first, that the pictures drawn m col- 
umn B are actually the beginnings of quarters of years, and the dit- 
ferent pictures a are meant to show the annual recurrence of the teast 
Etzalqualiztli; second, that the statement that the 5 nemontemi 
were not counted can rest only on a misunderstanding. 

But our manuscript is of importance to chronology m yet another 
respect. It is well known that the Mexicans called their years by the 
foiir day si^ns Acatl, '^ reed " ; Tecpatl, "flint" ; Calh, "house 
and Tochtnr" rabbit ", which they combined with the numerals 1 to 
13 in the same way as in naming the days. 



seler] 



MEXICAN PICTURE WRITINGS FRAGMENT I 

Table IV. 



137 



1 Acatl 


1 


Tecpatl 


1 


Calli 


1 


Tochtli 


1 Acatl 


2 Tecpatl 


2 


Calli 


2 


Tochtli 


2 


Acatl 


and so on 


3 Calli 


3 


Tochtli 


3 


Acatl 


3 


Tecpatl 


as before. 


4 Tochtli 


4 


Acatl 


4 


Tecpatl 


4 


Calli 




5 Acatl 


5 


Tecpatl 


5 


Calli 


5 


Tochtli 




6 Tecpatl 


6 


Calli 


6 


Tochtli 


fi 


Acatl 




7 Calli 


7 


Tochtli 


7 


Acatl 


7 


Tecpatl 




8 Tochtli 


8 


Acatl 


8 


Tecpatl 


8 


Calli 




9 Acatl 


9 


Tecpatl 


9 


Calli 


9 


Tochtli 




10 Tecpatl 


10 


Calli 


10 


Tochtli 


10 


Acatl 




11 Calli 


11 


Tochtli 


11 


Acatl 


11 


Tecpatl 




12 Tochtli 


12 


Acatl 


12 


Tecpatl 


12 


Calli 




13 Acatl 


13 


Tecpatl 


13 


Calli 


13 


Tochtli 





In my treatise, already mentioned above,'^ I laid stress on the fact 
that the origin of this nomenclature lies in the acceptance of a year of 
365 days, and that the years were simply named after a certain lead- 
ing day. In fact, if we assume, for instance, that in one year the 
leading day was the second one in table III, page 136, bearing\he sign 
Tecpatl and the numeral 13, then in the next year, that is, after the 
lapse of 365 days, the same day would take the sign Calli and the 
numeral 1, and so on. Now, at the outset it is most natural to suppose 
that this leading day, from which the year was first named, was the 
first day of the year, and that the first days of the consecutive years 
bore the signs Acatl, Tecpatl, Calli, and Tochtli. It can not well 
be denied, as I demonstrated in the above-mentioned article,^ that at 
the time and place it first occurred to scholars that only four of the 
twenty day signs fell upon the first days of the years, it was those 
very days Acatl, Tecpatl, Calli, and Tochtli with which the years 
then and in that place began, or at least that these days were then and 
in that place, for whatsoever reason, chosen as the first days of the 
years. To be sure, the admission of this contradicts the assertions of 
Duran and those of Cristobal del Castillo, quoted and used by Leon y 
Gama, as these make the Mexican year begin with Cipactli^ that is, 
with Cipactli, Miquiztli, Ozomatli, and Cozcaquauhtli, respectively. 
But I saw an indirect proof of my theory in the circumstance that 
ancient records from two remote and widely separated places, Mez- 
titlan on the borders of Huaxteca and Nicaragua, made the series of 
twenty day signs begin with Acatl; and I furnished a direct proof 
by showing that in the Mayan manuscript at Dresden the years do 
not indeed begin with Kan, Muluc, Ix, and Cauac, with which, 
according to Landa and the books of Chilam Balam, the Mayas began 
their years in later times, but with Been, Ezanab, Akbal, and Lamat, 



" Zeitschrift fur Bthnologie, 1891, v. 22. 
«• Zeitsehrlf t fiir Ethnologic, v. 23, p. 102. 



138 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

the characters which (-orrespoiid to the Mexican Acatl, Tecpatl, Calh, 
and Tochtli. 

It is true our manuscript (plate i) does not mention the first days 
of the years, but in cohimn a it gives the days on which the sixth feast 
of the year, Etzalqualiztli, fell. 

We know that in the so-called months, or periods of 20 days, which 
were named for the various yearly festivals, the actual feast of the 
respective name always fell on the last day of the period. If, there- 
fore, as our column a shows, in the 19 years presented here the feast 
Etzalqualiztli, the sixth festival of the year, fell on the days 

Oleiii Ehecatl Mazatl Malinalli 

12 13 1 2 

3 4 5 6 

7 8 9 10 

11 12 13 1 

2 3 4 

then it directly follows that the first day of the seventh period (named 
for the feast Tecuilhuitontli) must fall on the days 



Teopatl 


Calli 


Tochtli 


Acat 


13 


1 


2 


3 


4 


5 


6 


7 


8 


9 


10 


11 


12 


13 


1 


2 


3 


4 


5 





And if, with Sahagun, we put the beginning of the year on the first 
day of the period named for the feast Atlcaualco we shall have the 
following series for the first days of these 19 years : 



Tecpatl 


Calli 


Tochtli 


Acatl 


10 


11 


12 


13 


1 


2 


3 


4 


5 


6 


7 


8 


9 


10 


11 


12 


13 


1 


2 





From our manuscript, which, so far as I know, is the only Mexican 
manuscript that contains a long series of years, or, more exactly 
speaking, dates of days extending over a long series of years, it there- 
fore follows positively that the Mexicans began their years wdth the 
characters Acatl, Tecpatl, Calli, and Tochtli, just as the Maya priests 
Avho wrote the Dresden manuscript began their years with the days 
corresponding to the same four characters. 

This result, wdiich I reached on grounds of a more general na- 
ture, and which, as we see, is directly obtainable from our manu- 
script, has been still further confirmed by evidence very recently 
published. At the last session of the Americanist congress which met 
at Huelva Mrs. Zelia Nuttall exhibited upon a large chart a recon- 




MEXICAN PAINTING-HUMBlLDT FRAGMENT I PART 3 



SELEKl MEXICAN PICTURE WRITINGS FRAGMENT I 139 

stnictioii devised b}^ her of the Mexican caleiidar, further particuhirs 
concerning which she has reserved. Upon this chart was the follow- 
ing passage from an important Mexican picture manuscript, which 
belongs to the Biblioteca Nazionale at Florence, and which will soon 
he published in facsimile b}^ Mrs Nuttall: Es cle notar que siempre 
comienga el ano en un dia de quatro, el uno que llaman acatl. Y de 
alii toman nonbre. O en otro que llaman calli. Y de alii toman non- 
bre. O en otro que llaman tecpatl. Y de alii toman nonbre. Y de 
otro que llaman tochtli. Y de alii toman nonbre (" It is to be noted 
that the year always begins on one of four days — the one which they 
call Acatl, and from there they take the name; or on another which 
they call Calli, and from there they take the name; or on another 
which they call Tecpatl, and from there they take the name; and 
from another which they call Tochtli, and from there they take the 
name ") . This is clear and intelligible, and Mrs Nuttall has correctly 
made this passage the starting point for her researches. 

It is quite another question, and one which I must touch upon here, 
whether the month Atlcaualco, stated by Sahagun and others to be 
the first month of the year, is really the one which was the leading, 
or jfirst, month at the time when the designation of the years, accord- 
ing to the four days Acatl, Tecpatl, Calli, and Tochtli, first came into 
use. This question, it seems, should be answered in the negative. 

The most important statement by the old writers which makes an 
agreement between the Mexican and our chronology and a compari- 
son of the Mexican designations of the years with certain days of any 
one year possible is that made in Sahagun, book 12, chapter 40, where 
it is stated that the capture of Quauhtemoctzin, which put an end to 
the desperate defense of the city of Mexico, occurred on the day ce 
Coatl, " 1 snake ", of the year yei Calli, " 3 house " : Auhin omoman 
chimalli inic tixitinque in xiuhtonalli ei calli, anh in cemilhuitlapoalli 
ce Coatl (" When the shield was laid down (the war ceased), while 
we fell to the ground, that was the year ' 3 house ' and the day ' 1 
snake'"). (Biblioteca Lorenziana manuscript.) This day was, as 
we know from the letters of Cortes and Gomara's history, Tuesday, 
St. Hippolytus's day, August 13, 1521.« The Aztec writer Chimal- 
pahin says the same thing in his Seventh Kelation : Yhcuac canque 
yn tlatohuani Cuauhtemoctzin ypan cemilhuitonalli ce cohuatl 
* * * ic matlactlomey mani metztli agosto, ypan ylhuitzin S. Tipo- 
lito, martyr (" They took King Quauhtemoctzin prisoner on the day 
' 1 snake ' * * * on the 13th day of August, the feast of the holy 
martyr Hippolytus ").» On the basis of this statement Orozco y 
Berra, in the second volume of his Historia Antigua y de la Conquista 
de Mexico, tried to find an agreement between the Mexican and Euro- 



» Cartas de Hernan Cortes, ed. Gayangos, Paris, 1866, p. 257 ; Gomara, Cronica, chap. 
143. 

" Anales de Domingo Francisco de* San Anton Munoz Chimalpaliin Quaulitleliuanitzin. 
Seventli Relation, edid. Remi Simeon, p. 194. 



14G BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

pean chronologies ; but the attempt failed in the most essential points, 
since Orozco favored the erroneous view that the Mexicans began 
their years, and therefore also what they called their months, with 
the days Cipactli, Miquiztli, Ozomatli, and Cozcaquauhtli. 

In order to make the matter clear, I will mention still another point 
of agreement. In the Seventh Relation of Chimalpahin (page 188 
of Remi Simeon's edition) we read that the entrance of Hernan 
Cortes into Mexico and his reception by the kings of the three allied 
kingdoms, Mexico, Tetzcoco, and Tlacopan, took place on the day 
chicuey Ehecatl, " 8 wind ", the ninth day of the month QuechoUi : 
" ypan cem ilhuitlapohualli chicuey ehcatl, auh yn ipan ynin metz- 
tlapohual catca huehuetque chiucnahuilhuitia quecholli ". We have 
also a statement in regard to the same day in the Aztec account which 
is preserved in the Sahagun manuscript of the Biblioteca Lorenziana. 
This latter account agrees with the former in stating that the coming 
of the Spanish occurred in the year ce Acatl, " 1 reed ", on the 9th of 
the month Quecholli — or, as the author says, on the eve of the 10th 
of the month Quecholli— but it differs from it in saying that this day 
was not designated as a day " 8 wind ", but as ce Ehecatl, " 1 wind ", 
and that would be a day 20 days previous to the other: "auh in 
izquilhuitico in Mexico in ic calaquico in Espanoles : ipan ce hecatl 
in cemilhuitlapoalli : auh in xiuhtonalli ce acatl, oc muztla tlamat- 
lactiz quecholli : auh in cemilhuitique ome calli : vel iquac in tlama- 
tlactli quecholli ". If we consult Spanish historians we find, in Ber- 
nal Diaz del Castillo's Ilistoria Verdadera, the day of the Spanish 
entrance given as November 8 of the year 1519. 

The writer of the account in the Sahagun manuscript continues 
his computation from the date given above by counting each month, 
to which fact I would call attention here. This was, no doubt, the 
usual historic chronology, for on page 136 of Codex Vaticanus A 
we see the months which elapsed during the stay of the Spaniards in 
the city similarly set down. The writer of the Sahagun account 
reckons in this way to the feast Toxcatl, when Alvarado fell upon the 
unarmed Mexicans decked for the feast and slaughtered the flower of 
the Mexican nobility, and then onward to the feast Tecuilhuitontli, 
that is, the completion of the month Tecuilhuitontli. On this day. 
he says, the Spanish fled by night from the city: " Niman quival- 
toquiiia tecuilhuitontli, ie oncan in quizque, vel ipan in ilhuitl in 
quizque in Espanoles in moioalpoloque ". There were altogether, 
he says, 235 days, that is, 195 days during which the Spaniards and 
Mexicans were friends and 40 days during which they fought each 
other. Computed accurately this can not mean the feast Tecuilhui- 
tontli itself, but the eve of the feast. For counting 235 days from 
the ninth day of the month Quecholli we come to the 19th and not to 



SELER] MEXICAN PICTURE WRITINGS FRAGMENT I 141 

the 20th, the last day of tlie month Tecuilhuitontli. The Spaniards 
probably left the hostile city on the night before the feast, and the 
narrator counts the whole days Avhich lay between the ninth day of 
Quecholli and the feast Tecuilhuitontli. It can be computed with 
tolerable accuracy that this day, the "noche triste " of unhallowed 
memory to the Spanish, was the 30th of June, 1520.« But from Nov- 
ember 8, 1519, to June 30, 1520, there are actually 235 days, since 1520, 
was a leap year. The authenticated European chronology and that 
of our Indian informant thus agree joerfectly. 

If we now compare these newly acquired dates with the one first 
quote<.l, the day of Quauhtemoc's capture, we have the following com- 
putati<),n: Between November 8, 1519, and August 13, 1521, there 
elapsed 644 days. If we count 644 days from the 9th day of Que- 
cholli in the Indian calendar of feasts, in doing which we should take 
mto account that the Mexicans had no leap years, we come to the third 
day of the month Xocotluetzi. We must conclude that in the Indian 
calendar of feasts this was the day of Quauhtemoc's capture. 

But now, before I draw further conclusions from this result, I 
must mention that it contradicts certain other records. According 
to an account quoted by Leon y Gama '' Quauhtemoc's capture did not 
take place in the month Xocotluetzi, but in Nexochimaco, or Tlaxo- 
chimaco, the preceding month. Chimalpahin seems to make a simi- 
lar statement, for he says, in the passage from which I quoted 
above: Auh jye ohuacic nauhpohuallonmatlaqu-ilhuitl yn otech 
icalque tlaxochimaco jje . . . yc tixitinque ("after they had 
striven against us 90 days, we at last surrendered in Tlaxochi- 
maco (?)"). 

It is obvious that this can not be reconciled with the statements 
mentioned above. As, however, those other statements are to a 
certain extent controlled by European computation, it is very pos- 
sible that there is an error here, the more so because, by our calcu- 
lation, the day of Quauhtemoc's capture was comparativelv close to 
the feast Tlaxochimaco, being on the third day following it. The 
beginning of the battle and the appearance of the Spanish caravels 
at Nonoucalco, which, according to Chimalpahin's repeated assertion 
occurred 90 days before, are placed by Chimalpahin in the month 
Toxcatl. This coincides with our reckoning. But when he says 
in the passage in question « that it was on the day ce Cozcaquauhtli 
" 1 king vulture ", it is incorrect. It is undoubtedly a slip of the pen 
or, perhaps, an error in reading. It should rather be ei Cozcaquauhtli, 

froJ^'tL'l'Ir ^^/"^'"'"^ T'""^ that the army reached Tlaxcala on the 8th of .July, and 
f om the generals accurate account of their progress each day it appears that the; lett 

Coi:ZTlZc^T ''^' °'^'* "' '"'^^' ''^ ^'^^^^^ *^^ "^-'^-^ °^ '^'' 1 (Prescot hS 
" Dos Piedras, 2d ed., p. 79, note, and p. 80. 
" Page 193 of the R6mi Simeon edition. 



]42 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

" 3 king vulture ". This latter day occurs 90 days before the day 
ce Coatl, the day of Quauhtemoc's capture. 

Now, if the day of Quauhtemoc's capture was August 13, 1521, 
the third day of the month Xocotluetzi, it follows, as this was said 
to have been likewise a dav ce Coatl, " 1 snake ", that the first day of 
the month must have been the day 12 Calli and the first day of the 
year 1 Calli. Hence it follows, as I stated above, and as can safely 
be concluded from the dates in our manuscript, that the years of the 
Mexicans began with the signs Acatl, Tecpatl, Calli, and Tochth, 
and not, as was hitherto generally supposed, with the signs Cipactli, 
Miquiztli, Ozomatli, and Cozcaquauhtli ; and it follows, since the year 
1521 is said to have been a year 3 Calli, that the years of the Mexicans 
were not named for the first day of the first month, Atlcaualco, as 
has been commonly believed, but, as the computation shows, for the 
first day of the fifth month, on whose last day the feast Toxcatl was 
celebrated; lastly, it follows that the beginning of the month Atlcau- 
alco in the year of the conquest did not fall on the 2d of February, as 
was decided after much discussion at the Indian conference held at 
Tlatelalco in Sahagun's time,» but that it must have fallen on the 12th 
of February. The latter result is of special importance because it 
proves that in the forty odd years which elapsed between the year of 
the conquest and the time when the Sahagun manuscript was com- 
posed ^ the beginning of the Mexican year was set forward 10 days. 
This is exactly the sum of the intercalary days, which occur in this 
period of time, and proves that the Mexicans did not know how to 
regulate their chronology by intercalations at short intervals. 

If this is firmly established, then we may further conclude that the 
day of the arrival of the Spaniards, said to have been the ninth day 
of the month Quecholli, can have been neither 8 Ehecatl (as Chimalpa- 
hin states) nor 1 Ehecatl (as the writer of the account in the Sahagun 
manuscript asserts), but must have been the day before 7 Cipactli 
or 13 Cipactli. Otherwise, the month must have begun with a day 
Ocelotl, which, as we have seen, is incorrect. But if from 1 Coatl, 
the day of Quauhtemoc's capture, we count 644 days backward m the 
Indian calendar we do not arrive at 1 Cipactli, but at 7 Cipactli. 
Chimalpahin's statement was, therefore, relatively correct (withm 
1 day), and the writer of the account in the Sahagun manuscript 
made a'n error of 20 days. The only explanation I can give for the 
fact that both sources agree in mentioning a day Ehecatl instead of a 
day Cipactli is that tradition confused the day and its eve or that the 
name of the day was not held fast by tradition, but was only recov- 

» See Sahagun, v. 7, chap. 12. 4., / _ 

» In tie Sahagun manuscript of the AcacUnuia de hi Historia the year ome Acatl (- 

A. D. 1559) is given as the year of writing down at least certain parts (the histoncai 

ones) of the manuscript. 



SELER] MEXICAlSr PICTURE WRITINGS FRAGMENT I 143 

ered by computation, and that perhaps in doing this they reckoned 
back not 644, but 643, days, possibly because leap year was Jiot taken 
into account. 

If this be denied, and if the assertions of Chimalpahin and the 
account in the Sahagun manuscript that the ninth day of the month 
Quecholli was a day Ehecatl — the only statements to' my knowledge 
where there is a distinct agreement between the day of the month and 
the name of the day— be considered correct, we should arrive at the 
days Ocelotl, Quiauitl, Cuetzpalin, and Atl as the first days of the 
years named for the characters Acatl, Tecpatl, Calli, and Tochtli. 
This result is at first sight rather attractive. We should thus tirrive 
at precisely the characters which answer to the signs Ix, Cauac, Kan, 
and Muluc, Avith which the Mayas began their years in later times. It 
would then follow that the correction which was made by the Mayas 
also found acceptance among the Mexicans. I believe, however, 
since there are no other proofs, and since our computation is upheld 
by the statements of historians, that if the ninth day of Quecholli 
had been a day Ehecatl only 643 days would have elapsed before the 
capture of Quauhtemoc, and then one of the two above dates, that 
given by Bernal Diaz or that given by Cortes, would have to be cor- 
rected ; and since reasons of a general nature, as I have said before, 
favor the view I have advanced we must not lay too much stress on 
this one assertion, especially as an error seems very probable. As I 
have already said, it is our manuscript, with its festival dates run- 
ning through nearly nineteen years, which furnishes decisive evi- 
dence. Chimalpahin wrote at the beginning of the seventeenth 
century and the Sahagun manuscript was composed about the year 
1559. At those periods the ancient mode of reckoning the festival 
dates had long since fallen into disuse. The manuscript of the Hum- 
boldt collection is of ancient date, as is shown by the style cf the 
drawing and by the dress of the figures. Its testimony is of decisive 
value. 

After settling these points, which are generally necessary and 
also useful for the proper understanding of our manuscript, I now 
return to the dates given in columns a and b of our manuscript. In 
the beginning of this chapter I mentioned that the lower part of the 
manuscript is incomplete, that the upper part seems to be the actual 
end of the strip, and that the strip was not futther written upon 
because, for some reason, entries were no longer made. It would be 
interesting if we could determine to which one of our years the jear 
corresponds in which the last entries were made. The entries of 
material objects, of whose nature I shall speak directly, fill columns 
c find E. The last entries were made, as a glance at the manuscript 
shows, in the month Ochpaniztli of that year in v.diich the feast 
Etzalqualiztli was celebrated on the day 3 Ehecatl. In this year, as 



]^44 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [boll. 28 

I have already stated above, the first day of the first month (accord- 
ing to the usual method of calculation) fell on the day 1 Calli. And 
thts is precisely the year designated by the numeral 8 and the sign 
Calli, in xiuhtonalli ei calli, which corresponds to the year 1521 of 
our chronology, in which Quauhtemoc surrendered himself and the 
ruins of the city of Mexico to the victorious Cortes. The last entries 
of material objects in our manuscript were made on the feast Och- 
paniztli of that year, about 37 days after the fall of the city of 

Mexico. . 

I shall now proceed to discuss the nature of these entries of material 
objects They begin at the bottom of column c and for the first 28 
squares are confined to this column alone. From the twenty-ninth 
square on other entries occur, which fill column d, and from the 
forty-fifth square on the last column, e, is also filled with entrjes. 

These entries doubtless record entrance duties or other revenues, 
which were payable quarterly in equal amounts. They embrace five 

classes of objects: (1) small square 
plates, which are always entered by 
tens; (2) oblong rectangular strips, 
which occur singly or in pairs; (3) 
narrow triangular strips, which oc- 
cur singly, in pairs, or in fours; (4) 
shallow bowls filled with some pow- 
dered substance, which are set down 




;N\\V..'.'.:.".'.'. w::: ;;:;;;/■ ^\::;\]:- singly or in pairs, and (5) bundles 
\ - / r J ^^y of textiles or articles of clothing, 



which also occur singly or in pairs. 
F,o.32. symboisofgoidbars,piateB,and All are painted in the Same brown- 

bowls of gold dust from Mexican codices. ish-ycUoW color, CXCept that in claSS 

4 the bowls are frequently distinguished by a darker greenish coloring 
from the yellow contents. 

The small number of articles of each class which were to be deliv- 
ered during the quarter leads to the supposition that they were 
articles of value. Indeed, I am of opinion that class 1 means bars of 
gold; classes 2 and 3, gold plates of special fonns; class 4, bowls of 
gold dust; and class 5, woven coverlets and articles of clothing whid 
were also used as a medium of exchange, as money. Bars of gold 
(a and 6, figure 32), gold plates (<•, figure 32), and bowls of gold du»t 

rfigure 32) are enumerated in the tribute list and in the Mendo.a 
codex among the tributes' bt the cities of Mixteca alta and baja: « is 
described as " tiles of fine gold, of the size of a plate and as thick as a 
man's thumb " ; 6 is called - golden tiles, of the size of a eonseci-atea 
wafer and the thickness of a man's finger ; at . is shown a ^n 1 

..old plate four fingers wide and three-fourths of an ell long, of the 
Thickness of a sheet of parchment"; the symbols marked d represent 
^' bowls (jicaras) of goW dust". 



SBLER] MEXICAN PICTURE WRITINGS FRAGMENT I 145 

As to the Slim of the articles delivered during every quarter of a 
year, in the first twenty-eight quarters, during which entries were 
made only in column c, 10 gold bars, 2 square and 2 triangular gold 
plates, and 2 bowls of gold dust were delivered in every quarter. 
Beginning with the twenty-ninth quarter, that is, if our computa- 
tions given above be correct, beginning with the year 1511, there was 
a new payer of tribute, as it seems, the chieftain of a city, who is repre- 
sented in column e (m, plate iv) at full length, with his name hiero- 
glyph and the hieroglyph of the city itself. In the principal column, 
c (n, plate iv), the sum of the payments delivered every quarter is 
lessened by one long triangular plate; but, on the other hand, we 
iind in column d (p, plate iv), beginning with this square, entries for 
every quarter of a year consisting of a bundle of textiles, a square and 
a long triangular gold plate, and a bowl of gold dust. Beginning 
with the thirty-third square, in the year 1512, a second new tributary 
seems to have been added, the chieftain of the city of Zacatlan, who 
is also portrayed in column e (q, plate iv) at full length, with his 
name hieroglyph and the hieroglyph of his city. From this square 
onward, the amounts paid during every quarter are doubled in col- 
umn n. There are 2 bundles of textiles, 2 oblong rectangular and 2 
long triangular gold plates, and 2 bowls of gold dust. Beginning 
Avith the forty-fifth square, three years later (1515), Ave have "a third 
ncAv tributary, the chieftain of Tenanco, Avho is depicted in the corre- 
sponding section of column e (r, plate v) at full length, with his name 
hieroglyph and the hieroglyph of the city of Tenanco. After this 
section the amount of tribute paid in each quarter is increased by a 
bale of articles of clothing, 2 long triangular gold plates, and a bowl 
of gold dust, which are regularly entered in the fifth column, e. And 
Ihially, beginning with the sixtieth section, the month Tlacaxipeua- 
liztli of the year 1519, the last payments, those set doAvn in column e 
(plate A-i), are also doubled. This is the first section in column d in 
Avhich a figure occurs. Thus the entries go on uniformly up to the 
seA^entieth section, the last in Avhich entries Avere made. 

The question now arises. To Avhom were these regular quarterly 
payments made Avhich are entered in columns c to e. At the outset, 
it should not be supposed that the name of the receiver of the tribute. 
Avhether a city, a king, or a temple, or Avhatever else, is giA-en on the 
tribute list, for the entries Avere undoubtedly made on a list which 
was in the hands of the receiver of the tribute. Thus, in the well- 
knoAvn list of tribute paid to the kings of Mexico neither the kings 
nor the city of Mexico are mentioned. On the first page of the trib- 
ute list (Mendoza codex, page 19) the last Tlatelolcan kings are only 
mentioned incidentally, together Avith the contemporaneous Mexican 
monarchs. However, our manuscript is not a tribute list like those just 
7238— No. 28—05 10 



14:Q BUREAU OF AMEEICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

mentioned, which enumerated the tribute to be paid by the various 
cities. Our manuscript is a cashbook, in which an account is l^ept 
of the receipts of the year. It is a kind of financial record, and as 
such naturally afforded opportunity for other historical entries. Be- 
sides the additions of new tributaries already mentioned these consist 
of the notices of deaths and of the successors of the deceased. Deaths 
are expressed in the manner usual in Mexican picture annals, by a 
mummy bundle, with a name hieroglyph, usually seated in a chair 
like a living person. Accession to office is expressed by the figure of 
the living person, with his name hieroglyph, seated according to his 
rank, either on a simple straw seat, or on the royal chair provided 
with a back ; for omotlali, " he has taken his seat ", or motlatocatlali, 
" he has seated himself as a ruler ", are the expressions by which the 
Mexicans described accession to power. Where it is a question of 
actual rulers, authority is usually expressed by the little tongue in 
front of the mouth, which in Mexican paintings was a symbol of 
speech ; for tlahtouani, " he who speaks ", was the Mexica^i name for 
a ruler or king. 

The most important of these figures are undoubtedly those which 
appear in column a, the first, counting from the right. For here, in 
a conspicuous place, we may expect to find the names and the dates of 
accession to power of those men who lived Avhere these lists were pre- 
pared, and Avho were therefore the actual recipients of the tribute. 
It is important to note here that of the four figures of living persons 
who are portrayed in this column only the one in square 53 wears the 
xiuhuitzolli, the turquoise mosaic headband of secular rulers and 
nobles, and is characterized as of higher rank, as a king, by the straw 
seat with a back. The other three have the hair merely bound with 
a strap, their seat is without a back, and they bear on their backs, by 
a cord slung round the neck and knotted in front, a small yellow 
object flanked by two large gay tassels. This object is the so-called 
ie-quachtli, the " tobacco cloth ", a small pouch (taleguilla), in which 
the priests carried the incense pellets. The cord with the tassels, to 
which the pouch is attached, is called mecacozcatl, " necklace of 
agave-fiber rope ". The little pouch is called ie-quachtli, '^ tobacco 
cloth", because the incense pellets, Avhich are called yaqualli and 
described as pills or pellets shaped like mouse droppings, were made 
of " tinta "; that is, probably of yauhtli, or iauhtli, " incense plant ",'^ 
mixed with pulverized tobacco leaves con polvos de una yerba que 
ellos llaman yietl, que es como belenos de castilla (" with dust of an 
herb which they call yietl, which is like henbane ") .^ Tobacco 

■ oone meaning of the syllable iauh is " incense plant ". Compare Sahagun, v. 2, pp. 25, 
35, and the hieroglyph of Yauhtepec in the jSIendoza codex, v. 26, p. 14. But it also means 
"black": yaiih-tlanlli, " mayz moreno 6 negro" (Molina). 
" Sahugun, v, 2, p. 25. 



SKLER] 



MEXICAN PICTUEE WETTINGS FRAGMENT I 



147 



played preciselj^ the same part among the priests and medicine men of 
ancient Mexico as it has from the remotest times down to the present 
day among- the various savage tribes of North and South America. 

The tobacco pouch (ie^quachtli) or tobacco calabash (ie-tecomatl) 
was, therefore, the special badge of priests. I have brought 
together, m a to k, figure 33, a number of figures of priests from the 
Mendoza codex and the still unpublished Aztec Sahagun manuscript 
of the Biblioteca del Palacio at Madrid, with incense basin and copal 




PIG. 33. Figures of priests from Mendo^^a codex and Sahagun manuscript. 

pouch, with sacrificial knife and copal pouch, and with the o-reat 
rattle stick Chicauaztli in their hands, and upon the back of each is 
plainly to be seen the tobacco pouch or tobacco box (painted vellow 
or brown m the original), between two large tassels. Only the priest's 
assistants, called " quacuilli ", who in i hold the victim by the arms 
and legs and m I bring down the burning billets of wood from the 
temple, are dressed differently, simply like messeno-ers of death 
J herefore, there can be no doubt that the figures drawn in column a 



;148 . BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

of our manuscript, in squares 16, 62, and 72, and the mummy bundle 
in square 60 are meant to represent the figures of priests. But it 
should be noted that the priests in our manuscript do not carry an 
ie-quachtli but an ie-tecomatl on their back, one of peculiar shape, 
with lateral projections which were probably made of gold. 

But while the prince drawn in section 53, column a, has no little 
toncrue-the symbol of speech and of a ruler (tlahtouani) -before 
his mouth, the tongue is plainly to be seen before the mouth of the 
fio-ures of priests in squares 16 and 22, which in the figure m square 
62 has possibly only been blotted out by time or carelessly omitted, 
for the mummy bundle in square 60 has the same name inscribed upon 
it as the living person in square 16. The priest in square 62 is, there- 
fore the direct successor in office to the priest in square 16, designated 
by tiie little tongue as tlahtouani. For this reason, and also because 
priests are chiefly represented in column a, I believe I may safely con- 
clude that it was a temple which received the valuable tribute recorded 
in cohimns c, d, and e. This also explains why, as I stated above, 
the pictures of princes and cities are given wherever the hst records 
an increase in the amount of the tribute due every quarter. If trib- 
ute wrung from conquered cities by a king were recorded here, then, 
doubtless, the conquest of the city or the death of the king would be 
noted in the same place. That the temple of an idol was the recip- 
ient of the tribute very simply explains the fact that the entries must 
have ceased soon after the fall of the city of Mexico. 

But now where was the temple whose cashbook our manuscript 
represents? The answer ought to be found in the hieroglyphs which 
accompany the various figures represented in the manuscript; but un- 
fortunatefy these are not numerous enough, nor are all ot them sutti- 
ciently cle^r. I will proceed to discuss these hieroglyphs column by 
cokuun; hut I must observe at the outset that it is precisely in the 
hieroglyphs that Kingsborough's draftsman has made many mistakes, 

both in drawing and color. n , i • i ^i 

In column a, square 16, the name hieroglyph introduced behind the 
head of the figure shows a cloth, which is apparently held up by two 
hands. The cloth is painted white, the hands yellowish brown, ihe 
hieroglvph seems to refer to an act which we see represented several 
times in the Zapotec Vienna codex and also in the Mayan Troano cx)dex 
(see h and c, figure 34), which is the tying on of the shoulder cloth; 
possibly, also, its exhibition, presentation, or offering for sa e. In the 
Manuscrit Mexicain number 3 of the Bibliotheque Nationale at Pans 
there is a hieroglyph (a, figure 34), which shows a shoulder c oth and 
a hand. It represents the name of a citizen of Uexotzmco who is set 
down as among those who, escaping, withdrew from the control of the 
encomendoros^md the curas, and bears the kgend '^indres Idmat- 
laneuh ", that is, "Andrew, the cloth-lender ". 




MEXICAN PAINTING-HUMBOLDT FRAGMENT I, PART 4 






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MEXICAN PICTURE WEITINGS FRAGMENT I 



149 



In square 52, column a, is seen a hierogiypli behind the laummy 
bundle, consisting of a stalk painted bluish-green, holding a red 
object, from the left side of which hangs another object painted yel- 
low. This is probably meant for an ear of corn with its bunch of 
silk hanging at one side. The name of the person whose death is 
announced here should therefore be read Xilotl, or Cacauiatl, " young 
ear of corn "'. 





Fig. 34. Symbols of cloth and precious stones. 

His successor, in square 53, decorated with the princely headband, is 
designated by a hieroglyph painted yellow, which I can not interpret 
with any certainty. 

The mummy bundle, in square 60 of column a, has the same name 
hieroglyph as the figure in square 16. Apparently the death of the 
same person is here announced whose entrance into office is proclaimed 
in square 16. 



]^50 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

His successor, in square 62, has for his name hieroglyph a single 
bead drawn on a strap. This is probably to be read Chalchiuh. 
The principal precious stones among the Mexicans were the chal- 
chiuitl, which comprised jadeite and other stones of a similar green 
color, and xiuitl, the " turquoise ". Both were represented hieroglyph- 
ically as lustrous bodies, like the brilliantly polished mirror tezcatl 
(marcasite or obsidian), with eyes at the four corners, that is, send- 
ing out rays in four directions. The forms d to /, figure 34, represent 
chtxlchiuitl; ?, xiuitl; and n, tezcatl. The chalchiuitl was preferred 
for necklaces (cozcatl), beads, and bracelets (macuextli) because tur- 
quoise (xiuitl) was too valuable, and was not found in such large 
pieces. Turquoise was used especially for incrustations and mosiacs. 
The precious ear pegs (xiuhnacochtli), the diadems of the Mexican 
kings (xiuhuitzolli), were made of turquoise mosaic. When, instead 
of the hieroglyphs for chalchiuitl and xiuitl, the object itself was 
drawn, the word xiuitl was represented by an incrusted disk, m, and 
the word chalchiuitl by one or two strung beads, as we see it in A and ?*, 
which are taken from "a Historia Mexicana of the Aubin-Goupil col- 
lection (Goupii-Boban Atlas, plates 60, 59). The form h stands for 
the chalca tribe, which is designated by the hieroglyph chalchiuitl, d, 
in a corresponding representation in the Boturini codex, published in 
the Kingsborough collection. The form i expresses the name of one of 
the foui^ barrios of Aztlan, Avhich is also to be read Chalco. On the 
lienzo of Tlaxcala the town of Chalco is also designated by a large 
bead. Comparison with these figures places it, I think, beyond a 
doubt, that the hieroglyph in square 62 of column a is likewise to be 
read Chalchiuh. 

Of the persons in column a there still remains the one in square 72. 
The name hieroglyph is plainly a shield, but there was something 
else above it which can no longer be deciphered, as only a few rem- 
nants of blue paint are left of it. Possibly there was a blue royal 
headband above it, in which case it would have to be read Chimalte- 
cuhtli. A man by this name, chieftain of Calixtlahuacan, is men- 
tioned in the Anales de Chimalpahin in the year 1484. 

Finally, there is still the hieroglyph of a place, section 68 in column 
A. Arrows are drawn flying toward it or sticking into it. This 
is probal)ly meant to signify the conquest of that place. The 
hieroglyph consists of the well-known drawing of a mountain 
(tepetl), of a string of beads laid around its summit (cozcatl, " neck- 
. lace "), and a number of objects on the top of the mountain which I 
can not explain with any degree of certainty. The object which 
forms the actual pinnacle of the mountain is painted brown, and 
oblique stripes are plainly visible, between which the color seems to 
be darker. This may therefore possibly represent the hieroglyph 
of stone (tetl). The square body above it is painted black. This 



selee] 



MEXICAN PICTURE WRITINGS FRAGMENT I 



151 



may, perhaios, be intended for a piece of obsidian (iztli). Accord- 
ing to this, we have itz-te-cozca-tepe as elements of the hieroglyph; 
but 1 can not construct any place name known to me out of these 
elements. 

I will now j3ass on to columns d and e. In d we have in square 
60 the mummy bundle and a hieroglyph which in the Kingsborough 
drawing is absolutely incoinpre- 
hensible, but which in the orig- 
inal, and also in our reproduc- 
tion, can be recognized, with 
some difficulty, to be sure, as the 
head of a beast of prey w4th 
outstretched tongue. We should 
read this Ocelotl, " jaguar ". A 
seated figure then follows, in 
square 61, whose head is not 
adorned with the royal head- 
band, the xiuhuitzolli,and whose 
long hair hangs down behind, 
wound round with a strap, after 
the mamier of priests. A cac- 
tus branch is behind it, by way 
of name hieroglyph. Cactus 
branches, with the blossoms, 
often occur in the register of 
names of persons of Uexotzinco 
and Xaltepetlapan (Manuscrit 
Mexicain number 3, Bibliothe- 
que Nationale, Paris), shown in 
figure 35 (a, 1 to 5) . There they 
denote the name Nochuetl, which 
is also frequently mentioned in 
the Anales of Chimalpahin. A 
cactus branch in conjunction 
with an arrow is likewise used 
there to represent the name 
Tziuac mitl, h. It seems, there- 
fore, that a variety of cactus was meant by Tziuactli, or tzinuactli. 
This name, too, which likewise occurs in the Anales of Chimalpa- 
hin, might be expressed by the hieroglyph in square 61, column d 
(plate VI ). 

In the hieroglyph which accompanies the mummy bundle, in square 
64, column d (plate vi), I think I recognize the head of a deer and an 
upright tuft of feathers. The deer is mazatl, and the upright tuft of 
feathers should probably be read quetzalli. According to this we 




Fig. 35. 



Symbols of personal and place names in 
Mexican codices. 



]^52 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

should have mazaqiietzal, and this is a royal name well known from 
the Anales of Chimalpahin, that is,, in the territories of Chalco, 
Tlalmanalco, and Amaquemecan. 

The next figure in column d, square 65, is described by a hieroglyph 
which is obviously the picture of a snake. The head is above on the 
left, and is white. The forked tongue protruding from the mouth 
is plainly visible. The body is painted yellow. A rattle seems to be 
drawn at the end of the tail, which is left white like the head. The 
name might therefore be read Coatl, " snake ". 

Finally, in column e, as already stated, in sections 29, 33, and 44 
(plates IV and v), three chieftains are drawn, with their name hiero- 
glyphs and the hieroglyphs of the cities ruled by them. 
^ The hieroglyph of the city in square 29 shows us a mountain 
(tepetl) which seems to be formed of streams of water moving in a 
circle. A mountain of water inight be read Atepec. A city is 
recorded by this name in the Mendoza codex, page 16, among the con- 
quests of the younger Motecuhzoma, and is expressed there by the 
drawing of a mountain with a stream of water on it (i, figure 35). 
In Mexican hieroglyphs of towns, however, a mountain often serves 
merely to shoAv that reference is made to a place or a place name, that 
is, to express the syllable co or can; compare, for instance, the^ hiero- 
glyphs of the cities of Aztaquemecan, Quauacan, Quauhyocan, Chicon- 
quiauhco, and Nepopoalco, from the Mendoza codex {c to g), and 
those of Tzompanco (7i), Tlacopan, Toltitlan, etc., from the Osuna 
codex. If we take this into consideration, then, since the water.in our 
hieroglyph in square 29 is apparently drawn moving in a circle, we 
should perhaps read it Almoyauacan, " where the water moves in a 
circle ". This is the name of an ancient village which is mentioned, 
after Uexotzinco and Xaltepetlapan, with their barrios (calpulli) 
and the persons belonging to them in the Manuscrit Mexicain number 
3 of the Bibliotheque Rationale, Paris. There (k) the water flowing 
in a circle is much more plainly drawn than in our hieroglyph. But 
since, as we shall see, both the succeeding hieroglyphs also refer to 
territories adjacent or friendly to Uexotzinco, I think it quite prob- 
able that the place hieroglyph in square 29, column e, should be read 
Almoyauacan. 

The chieftain of the place is designated hieroglyphically by the 
head of a jaguar. His name must therefore have been Ocelotl, or 
Tequan, " beast of prey ". 

The place which is meant to be designated in square 33 (plate iv) 
is represented by a bush painted bluish green. Unfortunately, this 
hieroglyph is also open to various readings. The Mexicans expressed 
the word zacatl, "grass", by a similar bush (see in the Mendoza 
codex the place names Zacatlan, Zacatepec, and Zacatollan, shown in 
a, h, and c, figure 36) ; but they also painted the same thing when they 




MEXICAN PAINTING-HUMBOLDT FRAGMENT I, PART 5 




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MEXICAN PICTURE WRITINGS FRAGMENT I 



153 






wished to say popotl, " broom ", for the broom was made of a variety 
of stiff grass (see the hieroglyph Popotlan, d and e) ; and, finally 
they also painted it to express the green bushes known as acxoyatl on 
which they offered the blood which flowed in tortures, self-inflicted in 
honor of the gods (see /, taken from the Sahagun manuscript of the 
J^iblioteca del Palacio, expres- 
sive of the religious ceremoiiv 
acxoya-temaliztli, " the laying 
down of green bushes before the 
idols ") . For the interpretation 
of our hieroglyph in square 33 
we thus have a choice of Zacat- 
lan, Popotlan, and Acxotlan, all 
well-known place names, any 
one of which might be correct. 
Of these I think we may ex- 
clude Popotlan, for in its hiero- 
glyph the band which fastens 
the bush to the broom is usually 
given. But we might choose 
between Zacatlan and Acxotlan. 
A place named Zacatlan is quite 
regularly mentioned, together 
with Uexotzinco, Tlaxcallan, 
Tliliuhquitepec, and Cholollan, 
in the chronicle of Tezozomoc. 
The Anales of Chimalpahin 
also mention together Chichi- 
meca, Tenanca, Cuixcoca, Temi- 
milolca, Zacanca, and Yhuipa- 
neca. Acxotlan was one of the 
most important barrios of 
Chalco. The fact that the grass 
(zacatl) in the place name is 
usually painted yellow, while 
green seems to be the color most 
naturally applied to the bush 
(acxoyatl), militates perhaps 
in favor of the latter meaning. 

The hieroglyph of the chieftain of this city is likewise quite unin- 
telligible m the Kingsborough drawing. In the original we can 
niake out, with some difficulty, to be sure, but still plainly, the head 
of a deer (mazatl), with the eyelids painted yellow and with blue 
antlers resting on a yellow base, quite in the manner in which the day 
sign Mazatl, is drawn and colored in column a. Above it are twelve 




Fig. 36. 



Symbols of place and personal names, 
Mexican codices. 



154 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY Tbull. 28 

little circles of various colors, arranged in divisions of 5, 5, and 2. 
This is undoubtedly meant for the. number 12 (matlactli omome). 
The person drawn here is therefore called by the name of a day, ma- 
tlactli omome mazatl, " 12 deer ", which was possibly the day of his 
birth or had some other connection with him. 

Finally, the wall crowned with battlements under the figure of the 
chieftain, in sections 44 and 45, undoubtedly stands for the place name 
Tenanco, "at the place of inclosures ". The name hieroglyph of 
the chieftain is again quite unintelligible in Kingsborough, and it is 
incorrectly painted green. In the original there is not a trace of 
color to be seen. With some difficulty the hairy head of an animal 
can be recognized, which is probably intended for a rabbit (tochtli), 
and the name should probably be read accordingly. 

If, in conclusion, we now turn to the question of the origin of the 
manuscript, we see that the analysis of the hieroglyphs leads to no 
definite result. The most important hieroglyph, the place name, in 
section 68, column a (ph^te vi), can not be interpreted with certainty. 
The other place names can, indeed, be explained with some degree of 
certainty, but they leave room for doubt, insomuch as places called 
Tenanco and Zacatlan occur in different localities. Nevertheless, I 
believe that the combination of the names Tenanco, Zacatlan (or 
Acxotlan) , and, possibly, if my interpretation is correct, Almoyauacan 
points to a particular region, the land of the Uexotzincas and 
Chalcas, the valleys and slopes at the southern and western foot of 
the volcanoes Popocatepetl and Iztaccihuatl. In this region also,^ as 
we know from Chimalpahin, various tribal heads bore the title 
Teohua teuhctli, " priest-prince ". Nezaualcoyotl and the great Mote- 
cuhzoma, the elder, went thither to obtain from the tribal chief a 
victory-insuring fetish, the otlanamitl teueuelli, the four bamboo 
arrows, and the shield of the war god. I do not believe that the 
"Monte Sacro", the famous shrine of Amaquemecan, was the one to 
which our manuscript refers, for in that case we should be able to 
verify the names of persons from Chimalpahin. But, besides the 
great sanctuary, there must have been others in the immediate neigh- 
borhood and more remote. Let us hope that among the many records 
which were made in the first century after the conquest something 
may yet be discovered which shall establish the identity of the persons 
and places of our manuscript beyond all possibility of doubt. 

FRAGMENT II 

This fragment (plate vii) is a strip of agave paper 68- cm. long and 
40 cm. wide, covered with drawings and writing on one side. It is 
the page which Alexander von Humboldt describes in Vues des Cor- 



c 



1 («j:Vi; ^ , i>A 



^\mi 




i. ' 



li} 



-$■' 


i If 







-^ 




SELEE] MEXICAN PICTURE WRITINGS FRAGMENT II 155 

dilleres et Monuments des Peuples indigenes de PAmerique, under 
the title " Genealogie des Princes d'Azcapotzalco ". 

The drawings on this page (plate vii) occupy a space bounded by 
straight lines, to the right of which a path showing footprints and to 
the left a body of water, stream or sea margin, indicated by drawings 
of waves and whirlpools and by a light blue color, run the whole 
length of the page. Near the lower edge a second path, beginning 
at right angles to the first, leads straight across the page to the 
water, and about the center of the page a small body of water, also 
beginning at right angles to the principal path, crosses the page in 
like manner. The whole space above the lower path is divided by 
horizontal lines into 27 divisions, which, however, decrease in leng-th 
from the seventeenth down in consequeirce of a boundary line wMch 
begins at the left and runs diagonally upward to the right. In one 
of these divisions, the fourth counting from the lower path, a row 
of dark figures filled in with dots and angular lines runs straight 
across the i^age. In Mexican picture writing this is the way in which 
the idea of tlalli, or milli, " acre ", or " field ", is expressed. The 
other divisions, except two which are empty and a third in which a 
kind of explanatory note is written, are each provided Avith the head 
and the hieroglyph of a particular person. 

This general arrangement of the page shows that we can hardly 
have to do here with a genealogy, as von Humboldt supposed. The 
whole arrangement far more closely resembles a doomsday book, a 
map of public lands, or a register of landed , property ; and this in 
fact it is proved to be by the writing, which occurs in the lowest 
division below the lower path. 

In this division we see to the right the picture of King Motecuh- 
zoma, the ninth king of the Mexicans, known as Xocoyotzin, " the 
young", in contradistinction to Ueue-Motecuhzoma, the" elder Mote- 
cuhzoma, the fifth king of the Mexicans, whose other name was 
Ilhuicamina, "he who shoots at the heavens". To the left is the 
picture of a hut built of straw or reeds, painted yellow above a 
white circle. And between the picture of the king and the figure 
of the hut are the words: y xacallo camaca y tlatovani motecuh- 
zomatzin mochi ytonal catca (" the country house of Camaca : all 
parcels of land which belonged to King Motecuhzoma ") . The word 
tonalli, which is here the most important word, deciding the mean- 
ing of the whole, means " glow ", " warmth of the sun ", " summer " 
in its more literal application: but it also means the " character " or 
" signs "of a day or a year; that is, one of the. 20 pictures by which 
the Mexicans designated their days or one of the 4 of these which 
designated the years. Hence follows the secondary meaning, " fate 
decided by the day of birth ", and lastly, in general terms, " that 
which is assigned to anyone ", that is, what is allotted to him, his 



;1^56 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

portion, his fate. Thus Molina in his dictionary gives: " racion de 
alguna, 6 cosa diputada para otro " (" aUowance of something, or a 
thing assigned to another "), and for tlalli te-tonal, " suerte de tierra 
agena " ("a piece of land belonging to another person "). 

I will now proceed to describe the separate pictures and hiero- 
glyphs. King Motecuhzoma, in the lowest divisions of the fragment, 
below the lower cross path, is represented at full length, seated on 
a chair woven of reeds (tepotzo-icpalli), which is like the others, but 
is provided with a back. He is dressed in the royal blue garment 
(xiuhtilmatli), which is woven in openwork and trimmed with a red 
border of eyes (tenchilnauayo), probably of feather work. On his 
head he wears the band of turquoise mosaic (xiuh-tzontli, or xiuh- 
uitzolli). There is a small blue tongue before his mouth, the symbol 
of speech and power (tlahtouani means both " the one who speaks '' 
and " the king "). Mexican kings are drawn in almost precisely the 
same way in the Sahagun manuscript belonging to the Academia de 
la Historia (see g, figure 36), except that here is given the turquoise 
bar (xiuh-yacamitl) which Mexican kings wore in the pierced sep- 
tum of the nose, as a distinguishing ornament, when they put on gala 
dress. I have also taken from the Sahagun manuscript the terms 
just used for the various articles of royal Mexican dress. 

Motecuhzoma means " the angry lord ". The idea of angry could 
not well be expressed by the Mexicans in hieroglyphs; but it was 
otherwise with the idea tecuhtli, " lord ", " prince ". To express this 
idea they merely drew and painted the turquoise headband (xiuht- 
zontli, xiuhuitzolli), the emblem of kings. Thus we find both the 
older and the younger Motecuhzoma hierogiyphically designated 
simply by the xiuhtzontli (compare h and n, figure 36, from Codex 
Telleriano-Kemensis, volume 4, pages 6 and 13). The former is 
intended for the elder Motecuhzoma and the latter for the younger. 
Usually, however, to prevent confusion, the elder Motecuhzoma is 
hierogiyphically designated by an arrow sticking in the picture of 
the heavens, i, a hieroglyph, which represents his other name, 
Tlhuicamina, " he who shoots at the heavens ". The younger Mote- 
cuhzoma, on the other hand, is more particularly designated^ by a 
peculiar element added to the royal headband, which is visible in the 
hieroglyph of our picture as well as in k, figure 36 of the Mendoza 
codex, and Sahagun manuscript, Academia de la Historia, page 68. 
Why this element should express the idea xocoyotl, " the younger ", I 
can not state, and would merely mention that a similar element is to be 
seen in the Sahagun manuscript of the Academia de la Historia on 
the leg painted white and dotted with black, m, figure 36, which rep- 
resents the name of the seventh Mexican king, Tizoc or Tizocic (Tiz- 
ocicatzin). I still think it very doubtful whether o, which occurs 



SELER] MEXICAN PICTUKE WRITINGS FRAGMENT II 157 

on the great so-called calendar stone in the upper left-hand triangular 
space, is meant for a hieroglyph of Motecuhzoma, as is often 
assumed. Here the xiuhtzontli is combined with the breastplate of 
the fire god. In a corresponding place on the other three triangular 
spaces are the dates, 1 Tecpatl, 1 Qniauitl, 7 Ozomatli, which appear 
also to denote certain deities. I think that King Motecuhzoma took 
his name from one of the cognomens of the fire god; for el seiior 
enojado, " the angiy god ■", which is the meaning of the name Mote- 
cuhzoma, is a fit title for the god of devom-ing fire. I think I dis- 
tinctl}?- recognize the hieroglyph of the younger Motecuhzoma in ;;>, 
which occurs on the inner side' of the cover of a cineraiy casket, which 
bears on the outer side (the top) the date 11 Tecpatl. Peiiafiel repro- 
duced this casket in his " Monumentos del arte mexicano '', and 
regarded the hieroglyph as that of King Nezaualpilli, of Tetzcoco, 
said to have died in the year 11 Tecpatl, or A. D. 1516. But, in the 
first place, the year of Nezahualpilli's death has never been precisely 
determined. According to Chimalpahin, he died a year earlier, in 
tlie year 10 Acatl, or A. D. 1515. Furthermore, the hieroglyph has 
absolutely no connection with the elements of the name Nezaualpilli. 
On the contrary, all the elements contained in the name Motecuh- 
zoma seem to be expressed in this figure. The royal headband gives 
us the element tecuh, *•' prince ". The little tongue (symbol of speech) 
with clouds of smoke rising from it seems to express the element mo- 
zoma, " angry ", fiery speech, as it were. And finally, the element 
with which we became familiar in the hieroglyphs k and ?, and which 
we also see in the hieroglyph of our manuscript, is plainly contained 
here, and represents the idea of xocoyotla. 

Opposite the figure of Motecuhzoma in our manuscript is the pic- 
ture of a hut built of reeds, called xacalli in Mexican, or jacal. as they 
still say in Mexico. The circle below probably refers to the place 
which is here meant, but I can not explain it more fully. As for the 
location itself, there is no place by the name of Camaca given on more 
recent maps, and I have sought for it in vain on the older ones. On 
the map which accompanies the text of the Conquistador anonimo 
l^ublished by Ramusio," there seems to be the only hint of it. This 
is probably based on the first map that was made from the one 
officially sent in by Cortes. It differs from the latter, however, inas- 
much as the fresh-water lake, which on Cortes's map is shown in 
very much contracted dimensions on the left of the sheet, is repeated 
independentl}^ on a larger scale on the upper part of the sheet.^ 
Upon this map, exactly as on that of Cortes, two forked causeways 
are given on the north side of the town, which is, however, incorrectly 

" Ramusio, Delle navigationi et viaggi, v. 3, Venice, 1556 ; Garcia Icazbalceta, Docu- 
mentos ineditos para la historia de Mexico, v. 1, p. 390. 

" Dahlgren, " Nagot om det forna och nuvarande Mexico" (Ymer, No. 1, 1889). 



158 BITEEAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

designated bv the author as the west side. One of these causeways 
leads to the left toward Azcapotzalco. The other runs back of the 
fork due north. Where this causeway reaches the mainland the 
name Calmacam is written down. Of course, it is doubtful whether 
we are justified in connecting this name with the Camaca on our 
frao-ment II, for on the map of Alonzo de Santa Cruz, of the year 
15.55 « the name Caltlitlan appears in about the same place. Never- 
theless, I am inclined to think that there was a boundary hue m this 
region that is, northward from Azcapotzalco toward Guadalupe. 
Azcapotzalco was the first of the cities subdued by Mexico and it is 
expressly stated that the lands of Azcapotzalco were divided among 
themselves by the nobles of Mexico, the king taking the lead. There 
are in fact, fertile farm lands at the base of the mountain, traversed 
by 'streams of water which come down from Tliliuhyacaii, Tlalne- 
pantla, and Atizapam. The water drawn on the left side of the frag- 
ment may be the seashore, and the road running along the right side 
may be the one which ran along the southern base of the mountains ot 
Tenayocan and Guadalupe. . . , .1 xi • 

Lastly, on the right side of our fragment, outside the path, there is 
drawn a figure which seems to represent a kind of box provided with 
a mecapalli, the broad band of woven straw which was placed across 
the forehead, bv means of which the burden resting on the back was 
carried. Perhaps this was meant to symbolize agricultural imple- 
ments. • T XI 1 • 

Above the figure of Motecuhzoma, as I have said, runs the drawing 
of a path The figures seen on this and on the path at the right are 
very realistic reproductions of the imprint of a bare foot, the sole and 
the five toes, in sand or other light soil. These footprints ai-e gen- 
erally used in Mexican- hieroglyphic writing to denote a path, travel- 
ing over a path, or journeying or moving in a certain direction. 

I will designate the separate divisions or sections above this cross 
path, proceeding from below upward, by the figures 1 to 2i. Divi- 
sions 7 and 8 are the most important. In division i there is ahove- 
a hieroglyph, which T will describe later with the others. Beside it 
is the hieroglvph and the head, adorned with the royal headband of 
the brave Quauhtemoc, upon whom the Mexicans conferred the office 
of king, that is, chief military commander, after the death of Cui- 
tlauac. Motecuhzoma and Cuitlauac were sons of Axayacatl the 
sixth kino- of the Mexicans. Quauhtemoc was a son ot Ahuitzotl, 
ei-hth khig of Mexico, and the power was conferred upon him 
rUhongh there were nearer heirs. In Mexico bii^h only pai^tially 
influenced succession to the throne, as also to the other hig^i offices o 
state. It is well known how heroically Quauhtemoc defended the 

« Noi-aenskiold, Facsimile Atlas, p. 109, and Dahlgren, work cited, p. 10, 



selbr] 



MEXICAN PICTUKE WEITINGS FRAGMENT II 



159 



city of Mexico for 90 days against Cortes, in spite of European mili- 
tary science. His capture, which took place on the date ce Coatl yei 
Calli, or August 13, 1521 (discussed in the previous chapter), put an 
end to the war. Cortes at first treated him kindly, but later (accord- 
ing to a marginal note in Chimalpahin it must have happened on the 
day 1 Ocelotl, that is, as we reckon it, 169 daj^s later, about the end ol 
(he year 1521) sent him and four other influential Mexicans prisoners 
to Coyouacan and strove to extort from them by torture information 
as to wdiere Avere hidden the treasures which the Spaniards had to 




r s t 

Fig. 37; Mexican symbols of persons and places. 



U 



leave behind in Mexico the year previous at the time of their flight. 
Quauhtemoc was afterward baptized and named for his godfather 
Don Hernando de Alvarado Quauhtemoctzin. Cortes appointed 
him gobernador of Mexico, but afterward had him hanged on sus- 
picion of conspiracy, together with Tetlepanquetzatzin and Couana- 
cochtzin, the kings of Tlacopan and Tetzcoco. This happened in the 
year 1524 at Ueimollan during the expedition to Honduras. "He 
died in some sort like a Christian " (ye yuhqui ye christianoyotica 
momiquilli), says Chimalpahin. "A cross was put into his hand, his 



IQO BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bdll. 28 

feet were bound together with iron chains, and by these they hung 
him to a ceiba tree ". The execution is represented on page 138 of 
Codex Vaticanus A; but there he is represented as hanged by the 
neck in the usual way. From Chimalpahin's words, however, it 
would seem as though he had been cruelly hung up by the feet. 

The hieroglyph of Quauhtemoc, " swooping eagle ", is represented 
in section 7 of our manuscript by the head of an eagle and a foot- 
print directed downward. In the Sahagun manuscript of the 
Academia de la Historia it is represented by an entire eagle flying 
downward {d 1, figure 37). In Codex Vaticanus A, plates 137 and 
138, we also have a swooping eagle and footprints directed down- 
ward {d 2 and d 3, same figure) . 

The remark added in the following division, the eighth of our 
manuscript, apparently by the same hand which entered the other 
names and remarks, also refers to Quauhtempc's death. In order 
to read the words the fragment must be turned upside down. 

In this division we have two large circles and one small one, filled 
with an irregular network of lines and painted blue. These are hiero- 
glyphs of the xiuitl, " turquoise ", a word Avhich, as I stated above, 
is frequently expressed by a small disk of turquoise mosaic (see 7n, 
figure 35). But the word xiuitl means not only "turquoise", but 
afso "grass", "comet", and "year". It is used here in the last 
sense, for the little flag over the two large circles means " 20 ". The 
two large circles and one small circle together, therefore, give us 41 
years. Accordingly, there is written below them hon poval xivitl oce 
axca, "(it is) now' 41 years". Besides the number at the left is 7 
Calli, " 7 house " ; that is, the year 1524, the year of Quauhtemoc's 
death. To the right, beside the number, is 8 Calli, " 8 house " ; that 
is, the year 1565, which is more fully explained by the accompanying 

words: (the numeral is not distinctly legible) del mes de abril 

1565 ahos (" on the — of April of the year 1565 "). From the year 
1524 to the year 1565 there are actually 41 years. 

The year 1565, in which this note was added,' had a certain sig- 
nificance for the descendants of the ancient royal family of Mexico, 
as in that year Don Luis de Santa Maria Nanacacipactzin died. He 
was the son of Acamapichtli and grandson of Ahuitzotl, who was the 
eighth king of Mexico. He Avas the last descendant of the ancient 
.royal family, and was still nominally recognized as regent (gober- 
nador) of Mexico under Spanish rule : " Yehuatl oytech tlamico 
ynic Mexica Tenucha tlagopipiltin ", says Chimalpahin. ^ This year, 
therefore, marks the actual end of the ancient royal family, and for 
this reason Chimalpahin here adds a sketch of the entire ancient 
history of the city of Mexico and of the Mexican race. We read « that 

" Chimalpaliin, Seventh Relfiliou, pp 104, 105. 



SELER] MEXICAN PICTURE WHITINGS FRAGMENT II 161 

when the city of Mexico surrendered to the victorious Cortes after 
the capture of Quauhtenioc, the chiefs of the Mexicans were assem- 
bled at Acachinanco. They were the following: (1) Quauhtemoc- 
tzin, King of Mexico (tlahtohuani Tenuchtitlan) ; (2) Tlacotzin, 
cihuacohuatl, that is, the King's deputy; (3) Oquiztzin, Prince of 
Azcapotzalco (tlahtohuani Azcapotzalco-Mexicapan) ; (4) Panitzin 
(or Ilanitzin), Prince of Ehcatepec (tlahtohuani Ehcatepec) ; (5) 
Motelchiuhtzin, the keeper of the royal stores (calpixqui), not a 
man of royal blood, but a great war chief (amo pilli, yn yece huey 
yaotiacauh catca). Cortes had them put in chains and taken as 
prisoners to Coyouacan. 

The same four men who are mentioned here with Quauhtenioc are 
mentioned again in the same order in the account of Quauhtemoc's 
execution and that of the other two at UeymoUan: Cenca yc tlao- 
coxque, motequi-pachoque, quichoquillique, yn quinhuicac Mexica 
tlahtoque (" The princes of Mexico, who had been brought hither, 
were deeply moved and wept for him "). Their names are given as 
Don Juan Velazquez Tlacotzin, cihuacohuatl, Don Carlos Oquiztzin, 
Don Andres Motelchiuhtzin, and Don Diego de Alvarado Huanitzin. 

There is still another native account of events that haj)j)ened during 
the siege and after the taking of the city of Mexico. This is the account 
preserved in the Sahagun manuscript of the Biblioteca Dorenziana, 
which forms the tv/elfth book of the work. It is stated there that on 
the day after Quauhtemoc's capture he and all the dignitaries were 
taken to Cortes at Atactzinco, to the house of the tlacochcalcatl 
Coyoueuetzin. Here, directly after Quauhtemoc, are named Coana- 
cochtli and Tetlepanquetzatzin, the kings of Tetzcoco and Tlacopan, 
and then the following men of high rank: (1) cioacoatl Tlacutzin; 
(2) tlillancalqui Petlauhtzin; (3) vitznavatl Motelchiuhtzin, mexi- 
catl achcauhtli; (4) tecutlamacazqui (" high priest ") Coatzin; (5) 
tlatlati (•' steward ") Tla^-.olyautl. 

When the princes came before Cortes, the three kings of the allied 
cities of Mexico, Tetzcoco, and Tlacopan took their seats beside 
Cortes. Then follow mixcoatlailotlac Auelitoctzin and tlatzacutica 
yopicatl Pupucatzin pilli, who, as a comparison with previous pas- 
sages shows, are to be regarded as leaders of the Tlatelolcas. 

And then we read : '' On the other side sat the Tenochcas ". Their 
names are given as Tlacutzin, Petlauhtzin, Motelchiuhtzin mexicatl 
achcauhtli, tecutlamacazqui Coatzin, and tlatati Tlagolyautl. These 
names are mentioned repeatedly on previous pages of the narrative. 

If we compare the tw^o accounts, that of Chimalpahin and the one 

in the Sahagun manuscript, we must at the outset discard the last two 

persons named in the Sahagun narrative, for they are priests. Of 

the other three, two are identical with two of those mentioned by 

7238— No. 28—05 11 



162 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

Chimalpahin, The difference between the two narratives apparently 
can be explained by the fact that in the Anales of Chimalpahin we 
have in the beginning an account of the interview held with the Mexi- 
can princes immediately after the surrender of the city, while the list 
which then follows does not mention the princes present at this inter- 
view, but those whom Cortes afterward sent as prisoners to Coyouacan 
and put to the torture in order to wring confessions from them in 
regard to the treasures left behind by the Spaniards in their flight 
from the city. 

If we now return to our manuscript we see that in divisions 5, 3, 2, 
and 1, below Quauhtemoc, the same four men are named whom Chi- 
malpahin mentions as Quauhtemoc's companions; but the order of 
succession is somewhat changed, for, whilst we must always think of 
Tlacotzin as occupying the first place, Oquiztzin must be in the fourth 
place here instead of the second, as in Chimalpahin. 

The four persons, like those named in the other divisions, are ex- 
pressed in our manuscript by a head with the name hieroglyph behind 
it. Besides which a scribe, who, as we have seen, made his entries in 
the year 1565, has added the names of the persons in writing. 

Here, as elsewhere, the heads serve to show the rank of the person 
designated. In our manuscript, Uanitzin and Oquiztzin, who are 
named above as kings of Ehcatepec and Azcapotzalco, have the royal 
headband of turquoise mosaic, like Motecuhzoma and Quauhtemoc. 
These two alone of the four have the little tongue before their mouth, 
the symbol of speech and also of power. Von Humboldt was of 
the opinion that the Mexicans intended to designate persons as living 
by the addition of this little tongue. That this is not the case liere is 
obvious, for Oquiztzin died earlier than the three others, and Mote- 
cuhzoma, who also has the little tongue, earlier than any of the four 
and before Quauhtemoc, who is represented without the little tongue. 
Apparently the tongue is meant here as the direct hieroglyph for 
tlahtouani, " the one who speaks ", or " the lord ", " the king ", a pen- 
dant, as it were, "to the royal headband. 

The third of the four, Motelchiuh, who was described above as a 
war chief, is represented by the peculiar manner of wearing the hair 
which was a distinguishing mark of warriors. Sahagun tells us 
(App., chapter 5) that when warriors adorned themselves for the 
dance they bathed, covered their whole bodies, except the face, with 
black color, and painted their faces with black stripes, and that in- 
stead of combing their hair " they made it stand on end to give them- 
selves a terrible aspect ". There were two different ways, as the pic- 
tures show, in which it was customary to arrange the hair on these 
occasions. One was to draAv the hair together on the crown and wind 
round it a leather strap, to which, on gala occasions, large tassels of 
ornamental feathers were fastened, while the rest of the hair, as it 



SBLEE] MEXICAISr PICTURE WRITINGS FRAGMENT II 163 

seems, stood out short and stiif' all around the face. It is worn thus 
by the figures of warriors in the Mendoza codex (see I, figure 37) and 
on the head of Yacatecuhtli, the god of traveling merchants and 
caravan leaders, in the Sahagun manuscript of the Biblioteca del 
Palacio, m. This manner of wearing the hair was called temillotl, 
'• stone-pillar hair dress ", and the great tassels were called quet- 
zallalpiloni, " ornamental feather band ".« The name temillo, " wear- 
ing the stone-pillar hair dress (warrior's hair dress)", occurs fre- 
quently in the list of names from Uexotzinco (Manuscrit Mexicain 
number 3, Bibliotheque Nationale), already mentioned several times, 
and is represented there sometimes by the figure of a pillar, some- 
times by a stone or a stone in a setting, or, finally, by a stone in con- 
nection with a head of dressed hair (see n, figure 37). In the other 
manner of Avearing the hair it was made to stand up high over the 
forehead and allowed to hang down from the crown of the head over 
the neck, where it was wound by a strap, into which a feather orna- 
ment was stuck on gala occasions. This fashion is shown in the pic- 
ture of a chieftain arrayed for the dance, o, which in Codices Telleri- 
ano-Remensis and Vaticanus A designates the feast Tecuilhuitl, 
and in the drawing of the head of Tlacochcalco yaotl in the Saha- 
gun manuscript in the Biblioteca del Palacio, p. The cliief tains 
of the Tlaxcaltecs are also, drawn with this hair dress on the 
lienzo of Tlaxcala, in the representation of the festivities which the 
republic of Tlaxcala prepared for the reception of the conqueror 
Cortes, whom they hailed as their ally. This manner of wearing the 
hair was called tzotzocoUi, and the feather ornament stuck into the 
strap, consisting of a furcated plume of heron feathers, was called 
aztaxelli.^ In q I give a picture from the Sahagun manuscript in the 
Biblioteca del Palacio, in which warriors are represented executing 
a dance at the feast of Ochpaniztli, where these two modes of wear- 
ing the hair are to be seen side by side, distinctly drawn. The 
former, the temillotl, is the distinguishing mark of the actual chief- 
tains, the tequiua. Motelchiuh, the great war chief, is therefore 
represented with it in division 3 of our manuscript (plate vii). 

Finally, Tlacotzin, in division 5 (counting from the lower path), 
lias neither the royal headband nor the chieftain's hair dress, but is 
represented simply with hair hanging straight down, without any 
insignia whatever. He was drawn without the royal headband, 
because at that time he was probably not yet in possession of the 
royal power which was afterwards conferred upon him. Nor was 
the warrior's hair dress appropriate to him, because the title ciua- 
couatl, which he bore, was apparently not a military one. I will 
mention, however, that above Tlacotzin, in division 6, there was 

» Vei-offentlichnngen aus dem Koniglichen Museum fur Volkerkunde, v. 1, p. 140. 
» Veroffentlichungen aus dem Koniglichen Museum I'ur Volkerlvunde,' v. 1,' p. 166.' 



164 BUKEAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

painted a head with the royal headband like Quauhtemoc, but that 
this has been pasted over ; that is, expunged. 

As for the hieroglyphs, there are two in division 5 with Tlacotzin, 
which, however, do not both refer to the name. The first one seems 
rather to express the title and the second the name of the man. The 
latter represents an implement, a sort of wooden shovel which was 
used to work the ground, but also served to shovel earth, lime, etc. 
(see t and u) . The former is taken from the Mendoza codex. Above 
is the tool, below the basket (chiquiuitl) , in which the earth, Ihne, etc., 
was transported, with the broad carrying strap (mecapalli) to be 
placed over the forehead. In u, taken from the Osuna codex, is 
shown the Mexican laborer using this tool, the name of which is 
uictli, or coauacatl. In our manuscript it serves to express the 
name Tlacotzin because it was the symbol of servitude or bondage, of 
slave labor. The serf, the slave, was called tlacohtli. A tlacotl, 
somewhat differently pronounced, with the vowel short in the first 
syllable, meant the blossoming bough, an example of which is 
depicted in the hieroglyph Tlacopan (Tacuba). As in the present 
case the name Tlacotzin is expressed by a tool, we may conclude that 
the first pronunciation (with the long a) and also the first meaning 
belonged to it. 

The first hieroglyph shows the picture of a snake Avith open jaws 
holding a human face. The snake is painted yellow, excepting the 
rattles and belly, the human face brown, and on the cheek there seem 
to be traces of the two stripes which are almost invariably drawn in 
the hieroglyphs of the Mendoza codex when a female face is to be 
expressed" (see r, figure 37, the hieroglyph Ciuatlan, from the Men- 
doza codex, volume 40, page 1) . The first hieroglyph in division 5 is 
therefore the exact reproduction of the word ciuacouatl, '' female 
snake ", the title, which it is stated by Chimalpahin and in the Saha- 
gun manuscript was borne by the Tlacotzin mentioned here. The title 
ciuacouatl belonged to the highest dignitary in the realm, who was in 
a certain sense the colleague or deputy of the king ( tlahtouani) . This 
fact is so often and emphatically repeated in Tezozomoc's Cronica 
mexicana that it is natural to suspect intention and to conclude that 
the power claimed by the ciuacouatl was not always recognized by 
the king. In general, the colleagueship was plainly and clearly 
enough established. When in the narrative of the deeds of the elder 
Motecuhzoma,Tlacaelel, ciuacouatl of that period, makes a suggestion, 
Motecuhzoma answers that he agrees to everything, '^ for indeed I am 
the master; but I can not order everything, and you, ciuacoatl, are as 
much master as I am ; we must both govern the INIexican state '\ The 
name ciuacouatl has several meanings. It means ^' female snake ", 
• but it may also signify " female twin " or " female companion". The 
name probably refers to the ancient earth goddess, who, in different 



SELER] MEXICAN PICTURE WRITINGS FRAGMENT 11 165 

places, was called variously Cinacoatl, " the snake woman ", Ton- 
antzin, " our dear mother ", or Teteo innan, " mother of the gods ", 
and who was to the father, the ancient god of heaven, exactly what 
the ciuacouatl was to the king in the earthly realm of the Mexican 
commonwealth. 

I give in 5 a painting of this goddess corresponding exactly to the 
one in our hieroglyph. It occurs on plate 63 of the Goupil-Boban 
atlas, and there denotes Ciuacoatl, the goddess of Colhuacan, to 
whom Mexican prisoners are being sacrificed. 

Motelchiuh means " the despised ". The hieroglyph which here ex- 
presses this name is the well-known hieroglyph te-tl, " stone ", which 
is painted in brown and black, to express the various colors or the 
veining of stone. Of course, this hieroglyph is only an approxima- 
tion of the sound which it is actually intended to represent. It is not 
impossible that there is some et^aiiologic connection, though only an 
indirect one, between the Avords te-tl, " stone ", and tel-chiua, " to 
despise "'. Besides, Motelchiuh is designated also in the Sahagun 
manuscript of the Academica de la Historia in precisely the same 
way; that is, by the hieroglyph te-tl '" stone " (e, figure 37). 

Uanitzin, division 2, is hieroglyjjhically denoted by the flag 
(pamitl). p, b, and w are all kindred sounds, and our (German) av, 
or, more correctly, the English av, is the sound Avhich the old gram- 
marians intended to express by u or v, and the Jesuits by hu. It 
seems to be only an error Avhen Chimalpahin occasionally writes 
Panitzin instead of Huanitzin ; that is, Uanitzin. Uanitl is also de- 
noted by a small flag in the Sahagun manuscript of the Academia de 
la Historia (g, figure 37). 

Lastly, Oquiztli, in the first division above the lower path, is 
simply described by the hieroglyph of the city Azcapotzalco, Avhose 
ruler he was. Azcapotzalco means " in the place of the ant-hills ", 
The city is therefore hieroglyphically expressed by the picture of an 
ant-hill (see a and h, the former taken from the Mendoza codex, the 
latter from a record preserved in the library of the Duke of Osuna). 
Here Ave see in the midst of small pebbles and grains of sand a crea- 
ture, usually painted red and of a somewhat exaggerated shape, Avhich 
is intended to represent an ant (azcatl). 

I Avill noAV state briefly Avhat is knoAvn concerning the subsequent 
fate of the four persons Avhom Chimalpahin mentions as companions 
of Quauhtemoc, the last free king of Mexico, and Avho in our manu- 
script are set doAvn in due order underneath Quauhtemoc. 

Tlacotzin seems to have been a grandson of Ahuitzotl, the eighth 
king of the Mexicans.^ He Avas therefore a near relative of Quauhte- 

« See Anales de Chimalpahin, Seventh Relation, ed. Remi Simeon, p. 266, where the 
yxhuiuhtzin inyn, " the grandson cf rhe previous one ". can hardly refer to anyone but the 
previously mentioned Ahuitzotl. 



166 BUEEATJ OF AMERICAN- ETHNOLOGY [bdll. 28 

moc, who was a son of Ahuitzotl. This probably explains the high 
position as ciuacouatl, which he held with and under Quauhtemoc. 
He took a very energetic part in the defense of the city of Mexico, 
according to the Aztec account preserved in the Sahagun manu- 
script of the Biblioteca Lorenziana, which was probably written by 
an eyewitness who was shut up in the beleaguered city with him. 
Tlacotzin is mentioned there with tlillancalqui Petlauhtzin and uitz- 
nauatl Motelchiuhtzin, and these three, as leaders of the Tenochcas, 
are placed opposite tlacateccatl Temilotzin and tlacochcalcatl Coyo- 
ueuetzin, the leaders of the Tlatelolcas, the inhabitants of the sister 
city of Tenochtitlan. After the conquest he, too, was baptized, and 
was then called Don Juan Velasquez Tlacotzin. After the execution 
of Quauhtemoc and his companions at Ueymollan, Cortes made him 
King of Mexico (tlahtohuani rnochiuh yn Tenochtitlan) and equipped 
him like a Spaniard, presenting him with a sword, a dagger, and a 
white horse." Tlacotzin, however, was not destined to enter his 
native city as King. After having been absent for nearly three years 
with Cortes on the expedition to Honduras, which was one of hard- 
ships and privations, he died on the homeward journey, in 1526, at 
Nochiztlan. 

Of Motelchiuh it has already been stated that he was not a prince 
of the blood, but had won his rank by distinguishing himself in war. 
In the passage from Chimalpahin quoted above he is mentioned with 
the title calpixqui, " keeper of the royal stores ". This was the name 
given to the governors of subjugated provinces, whose chief duty it 
was to collect the tribute and convey it to the royal storehouses. In 
the Aztec account in the Sahagun manuscript he is called uitznauatl 
and mexicatl achcauhtli. The latter means simply "Mexican war 
chief". The former is one of the many military titles which were in 
use among the Mexicans, the actual meaning of which has not yet 
been determined. They probably referred to a particular gens (cal- 
puUi) ai;d to its temple. After the conquest of the city Motelchiuh 
was also baptized, like the other noble Mexicans, and was named for 
his godfather, Don Andres de Tapia Motelchiuh. We also see Thapia 
Motelchiuh written in our manuscript. After Tlacotzin's death at 
Nochiztlan, Motelchiuh was appointed his successor, but, as he was 
not a prince of the blood, actual royal dignity, the title tlahtouani, 
could not be conferred on him. I feel convinced that Cortes took 
this opportunity to somewhat degrade the dignity. He is therefore 
merely mentioned as a war chief of Mexico (Zan quauhtlahtohuani 
omochiuh Tenuchtitlan), but we learn nothing of his activity in this 
capacity. He, too, ruled but a few years and died in the year 1530, 
during an expedition to the provinces of the northwest (Teo-culhua- 
can, the province of Jalisco), where he was serving in the Spanish 

" See Anales de Chimalpahin, Seventh Relation, ed. R^mi Simeon, p. 207. 



SELER] MEXICAi^ PiCTUEE WRITINGS FRAGMENT II 167 

army under Nuiio de Guzman. While bathing in the neighborhood 
of Aztatlan he was struck by the arrow of a Chichimec, a hostile 
Indian, and died of the wound.*^ 

Uanitzin was a nephew of the king Motecuhzoma. His father, 
whose name was Tezozomoctli Acolnauacatl, was an elder brother of 
Motecuhzoma. Motecuhzoma was eventualh^ called to the throne as 
the successor of his father, Axaj^acatl, by the choice of those who had 
the appointing powder. But, according to a passage of unusual ethno- 
logic interest in the annals of Chimalpahin, Tezozomoctli inherited 
the dance ^^aociuacuicatl from Axayacatl, who bought it of the 
Tlailotlaque, a tribe of the Chalca, whose property it seems to have 
been. Uanitzin's mother belonged to the house of the princes of 
Ehcatepec, a place lying north of Mexico, at the northern base of the 
mountains of Guadalupe, near the lake of Xaltocan. In the year 1519; 
shortly before the arrival of the Spaniards, when Motecuhzoma had 
somewhat recovered from the extreme consternation into which he 
had been thrown by the first news of the appearance of the Spaniards, 
Uanitzin was installed by his uncle as ruler of Ecatepec, which 
belonged to him as his mother's heir. According to Chimalpahin, 
Uanitzin was at that time 20 years old. He seems to have taken no 
special part in the fighting during the siege. The Aztec account in 
the Sahagun manuscript of the Biblioteca Lorenziana does not men- 
tion him; but Chimalpahin states, as I have quoted above, that he 
was one of the Mexicans of high rank who were taken with Quauhte- 
moc as prisoners to Coyouacan. Cortes had so much regard for his 
descent (or for his youth ? ) that he did not have him put in chains like 
the others. After the princes were released from prison his mother 
immediately took him with her to Ehcatepec; as Chimalpahin says, 
she concealed him there (ca ompa quitlatitq yn inantzin Ehcatepec), 
and the people of Ehcatepec recognized him as their king (ynicompa 
quintlahtocatlallique no yehuantin Ehcatepeca). As a Christian he 
bore the name of Don Diego de Alvarado Uanitzin. 

After Motelchiuh's death in the year 1530 the throne of Mexico was 
for a time unoccupied. After the return from Teocolhuacan, which 
occurred in 1532, the office of chieftain was conferred on a certain 
Xochiquentzin, who also was not a prince of the blood (ynin ga no 
Mexica amo pilli), but had only been a large landowner (yece huel 
chane catca Mexico) and had held the office of a calpixqui, " a 
keeper of the royal stores " under the old kings. His house was in 
Calpul Teopan, the southeastern quarter of the city of Mexico, called 
already at that time the barrio of San Pablo. Xochiquentzin died, 
however, in the year 1536. The viceroy, Don Antonio de Mendoza, 
who had arrived in Mexico the year before, at first hesitated to fill the 

« Chimalpahin, pp. 209, 222, 266. 



168 BUREAU OP AMERICAN" ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

post again; but, in pursuance of his efforts to regulate the relations 
between the natives and the Spaniards, he found it advisable again to 
give a chief to the Indian population of the capital. In the year 1538 
he appointed to the office Uanitzin, who, however, was not proclaimed 
king (tlahtohuani), nor could he be quauhtlahtouani, "war chief", 
on account of his rank ; therefore he was installed in office under the 
Spanish title of " gobernador ". He died as early as 1541. One of 
his sons, Don Cristoval de Guzman Cecetzin, or Cecepaticatzin, was 
afterward, in 1559, the third gobernador of Mexico. 

Finally, regarding Oquiztli, the fourth person, set down in our 
manuscript underneath Quauhtemoc, we know from Tezozomoc's 
Cronica that he was installed as king at Azcapotzalco at the same 
time as Uanitzin at Ecatepec. Tezozomoc also designates him as a 
nephew of Motecuhzoma; but I have no positive information as 
to who his parents were. Azcapotzalco had become subject to the 
Mexicans since 1429, when the old rulers were driven out and the 
land was divided.'* Oquiztli also seems to have taken no conspicuous 
part in the fighting during the siege. He was forced, with the other 
noble Mexicans, to accompany Cortes on his expedition into the 
forest regions of Chiapas and Honduras, and died there soon after 
the execution of Quauhtemoc, in the year 1542.'' 

So much concerning these four. Of the other persons set down 
in our manuscript from the ninth division upward, only the one 
entered in division 16 (counting from the lower i^ath) is better 
know^n. This, as the explanatory note tells us, is Don Diego de San 
Francisco Teuetzquititzin, the son of Tezcatlpopocatzin, who again 
was a son of Tizocicatzin, seventh king of Mexico, and lived sub- 
ject to Spanish rule in Calpul Teopan, the barrio of San Pablo of 
Tenochtitlan. He was appointed gobernador of Mexico after Uani- 
tzin's death, in 1541, and died there in the year 1554.^ The name 
Teuetzquiti means " the jester ", " he who makes others laugh ". The 
hieroglyph in our manuscript seems intended to represent a kind 
of comic mask. Elsewhere in the Sahagun manuscript of the Acade- 
mia de la Historia, he is represented by an open mouth, /?, and 
a namesake of his, Tetlaueuetzquititzin, who beloiiged to the royal 
family of Tetzcoco, and was gobernador of Tetzcoco at about the 
same time, is represented by an open mouth with the little tongue (/>\ 
figure 37), indicative of speech, before it. The head, behind which 
the hieroglyph in our manuscript is placed, is drawn with the royal 
headband of turquoise mosiac, as in the cases of Motecuhzoma, 
Quauhtemoc, Uanitzin, and Oquiztzin. Like them, Teuetzquitizin 
belonged to the royal family of Mexico. 

" Chlmalpahin, p. 99. 

''Chlmalpahin, p. 207. 

« Chlmalpahin, pp. 241, 250 ; Sahagun mannscripl, Academia de la Historia. 



sklkr] 



MEXICAN PICTURE WRITINGS FRAGMENT II 



169 



Of the other jDersons, I will first mention the one in division 7 
delate vii), counting from the lower path, besides Quauhtemoc, whom 
the explanatory^ note calls Don Martin Cortes Nezahual tecolotzin. 
The name is not known to me from other sources. The head is drawn 
with the hair hanging straight down, without the chieftain's hair 
dress and the royal headband; but above the head is the royal 
headband of turquoise mosiac. This is the well-known symbol 
used in the Mendoza codex for the oflice of tlacateccatl (see «, figure 
38, page 17, of the Mendoza codex). The hieroglyph behind the 
head corresponds exactly to the name Nezahual tecolotl, which means 







/ 






Fig. 38. Symbols of names. 

" fasting owl ", for the back part of the hieroglyph shows plainly 
the face of an owl, and the front part a ribbon, woven of many- 
colored strips, with ends standing out, which is a familiar and 
universally understood symbol for nezahualli " fasting " (see the 
hieroglyphs of Nezahualcoyotl, " the fasting coyote ", b and c, same 
figure, and Nezahualpilli, "the fasting prince" or "the fasting child", 
d and e). Those marked h and d are taken from the Codex Telleri- 
ano-Remensis and c and e from the Sahagun manuscript of the 
Academia de la Historia. The symbol was derived from the custom 



iVO BUREAtJ OF AiViEEICAlSf ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

of shutting oneself up for the purpose of fasting. When seclusion 
was not actually accomplished, it seems to have been indicated by 
a ring plaited of the stalks of the aztapilin, or aztopillin, a 
variety of rush of a whitish color below and green above (see /, 
taken from the Borgian codex, which represents the fasting person 
blowing the conch and carrying a water jug on his shoulder within 
an inclosure plaited of green and white strips). In parallel pas- 
sages of the Borgian codex and Codex Vaticanus B a man is drawn, 
inclosed in a chest, waving the thorn of castigation in one hand and 
the green acxoyatl bush in the other. In corresponding passages of 
the Codices Telleriano-Remensis and Vaticanus A Quetzalcoatl, the 
god who was considered the inventor of castigation, appears armed 
in similar fashion in a boxlike inclosure, consisting of two parts. . 

A head follows in division 9 (plate vii), which, like that of Motel - 
chiuh in division 3, wears the chieftain's hair dress (temillotl). The 
explanatory note calls this Anauacatzin, that is, " from the land by 
the water", " from the seacoast ".« This name is hieroglyphically 
T-epresented here by a circle (island?) surrounded by water. In the 
list of names of persons (Manuscrit Mexicain number 3, Bibliotheque 
Nationale), already frequently quoted, Anauacatl occurs as the name 
of a citizen of Almoyauacan and is expressed by r/, that is, by a 
stream of water which is depicted before the mouth of a person, after 
the fashion of the little tongue which signifies speech. For atl is 
water and nahuatl clear, or intelligible, speech. I am unable to say 
where the Anauacatl of our manuscript belongs. 

In division 10 follows a head with hair hanging straight down, 
which is designated in the accompanying note as Xaxaqualtzin. 
Xaqualoua means " to rub ", and this action is represented in the 
hieroglyph by two hands using a sort of scouring brush. 

In the next division, 11, is another head with the chieftain's hair 
dress (temillotl). The explanatory note calls it Cuetlachivitzin, 
" wolf's feather '\ and this is expressed in the hieroglyph by the head 
of a wolf with tufts of down. In Chimalpahin's annals a Cuetla- 
chiuitzin is mentioned who was installed as ruler of Tequanipan in 
1561, and who died in 1572, but I am unable to say whether this is 
the one referred to in our manuscript. I do not think it at all prob- 
able, as there is nowhere in our manuscript an allusion to the region 
of the Chalcas. 

In division 12 Ave have another head with hair hanging straight 
down. The note calls it uitznauatl, A\hich is expressed in the hiero- 
glyph by the thorny point of an agave leaf (uitztli, " thorn '') 
and the small tongue of speech in front of it (nauatl, '' clear speech "'). 



« I have shown in the comples rendus of the eighth session of the Cougrfes InterRittional 
des Americanistes, Paris, 1800, pp. 580, r>S7, that the word Anauac means tlie seacoast, ant? 
that it is absurd to spealt of the plateavi of Aaahuac. 



SELRR] MEXICAN PIOTUHE WRITINGS FRAGMENT II 171 

The thorn, the sharp point of the agave leaf, is divided bj^ an oblique 
line, and one half is painted red, to indicate that it is covered with 
blood. These thorny points of the agave leaf were used in religious 
self-castigations, and, as we frequently see on the last pages of the 
Mendoza codex, also largely for purposes of punishment and edu- 
cational discipline. The word uitznauatl was a title, which in 
Mexico and elsewhere was connected with a certain military or polit- 
ical office. We saw above that Motelchiuh bore this title. Tlie plu- 
ral, uitznaua, denoted a class of evil spirits, which were conquered 
and destro3^ed by Uitzilopochtli, and uitznauac, or uitznauatlampa, is 
the region of the south. 

In division 13 we have again a head with hair hanging straight 
down. The note says uaxtepecatl petlacalcatl. The first name 
means "one from Uaxtepec " (from the place of the uaxin. Acacia 
esculenta). Uaxtepec was a place in the district of Cuernavaca, 
therefore in a temperate region (" tierra templada "). Here was the 
Jardin d'Acclimation of the kings of Mexico; that is, they trans- 
planted hither such trees and plants from the tierra caliente as seemed 
to them interesting, and came themselves for rest and recreation. 
The place is hieroglyphically represented by /^ figure 38, that is, 
by a mountain and a tree from whose branches hang the long knobby 
acacia pods (usually painted red). Petlacalcatl means " the steward 
of the mat house ''. This was a kind of public storehouse, where 
Avere kept mats and other articles of furniture which Avere used wdien 
foreign royal guests came. The petlacalcatl directed the public 
works, as shown in i taken from the Mendoza codex, page 71. Here 
the petlacalatl is represented on the left, with many little tongues 
before his mouth, to express the admonitions which he bestows upon 
those commanded to do the work. In the middle are the basket 
and the tool (uictli, or coauacatl), with which we are already 
acquainted, and to the right crouches the weeping youth commanded 
to do the Avork. The hieroglyph behind the man's head in division 
13 of our manuscript (plate vii) refers to this function of the petla- 
calcatl, and represents the above-mentioned implement, Avhich Ave 
haA^e already met with as the hieroglyphic expression of tlacohtli. 
The first Avord in the accompanying note, " uaxtepecatl ", is not ex- 
pressed in the hieroglyph. I knoAv of no person by this name. 
It is probable that " uaxtepecatl " does not stand here for the name 
of a person, but denotes the district to Avhich the official belonged. 
We often find the governors of provinces mentioned by the adjectiA^e 
form of their district instead of by their proper name — Cuetlaxtecatl, 
" the governor of Cuetlaxtlan ", etc. So here, too, uaxtepecatl petla- 
calcatl may mean merely " the keeper of the stores, the steAvard of 
the district of Uaxtepec ". 



172 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



[bull. 28 



Between divisions 13 and 14 in our manuscript there is a lesser 
stream of water, which, as I have said, leads straight across the 
page, from the path on the right to the w^ater on the left. Then fol- 
lows above, in division 14, a head with hair hanging straight down, in 
the explanatory note of which some of the letters are destroyed and 
made unintelligible by a dark stain; but the hieroglyph behind the 
head informs us that the note must be read Itzpotoncatzin ; that is, 
'• He who is stuck over with obsidian knives instead of with feathers". 
The hieroglyph shows us a stone knife (iztli, '' knife ", " obsidian ") 
with tufts of down sticking to it (potonqui, " stuck over with feath- 
ers"). Feathers fastened to the hair and naked skin were part of 
the holiday dress. Young girls adorned themselves for a festival by 






Fig. 39. Symbols from Mexican codices. 

sticking red feathers to their arms and legs, and because this stick- 
ing on of feathers was part of the holiday dress the victim of sacrifice 
was similarly adorned, except that white feathers were used, to show 
that he was doomed to death. Those intended for the sacrificio gla- 
diatorio, in particular, were smeared with white infusorial earth 
(tizatl) and stuck over with white down (iuitl) a, figure 39. To 
send tizatl and iuitl was therefore a declaration of war. The oppo- 
nent was thus symbolically doomed to a sacrificial death. Hence in 
Codex Telleriano-Eemensis the conquest of a city is invariably rep- 
resented by the picture of a man painted white, with dots, and cov- 
ered with tufts of down ( ?>, figm-e 3!)) , and in the Mendoza codex, page 
47, we see the declaration of war against an insubordinate cacique 



SELEK] MEXICAN PICTURE WRITINGS FRAGMENT II 173 

also represented in this way, c. The envoy of the king while he deliv- 
ers his message is sticking feather tufts upon the head of the cacique, 
who sits in his chair clotlied in a rich mantle. Another brings him 
the shield, which was also part of the equipment of those destined for 
the sacrificio gladiatorio. 

In the next division, 15 (plate vii), we have a head with hair 
hanging straight down, which is called Ixeuatzin in the accom- 
panying note. Ix-tli means " face ", " front ", " presence ", " eye " ; 
euatl means " the skin ", and was also used especially to denote the 
gala doublets, made of feather w^ork which were worn by Mexican 
warriors of rank over the wadded armor, ichca-uipilli, which served 
for the actual protection of their bodies. In c/, figure 39, I have re- 
produced one of these military doublets of feather work which is used 
in the Mendoza codex, pages 40 to 49, as a hieroglyph for the city 
of Cozouipilecan " Avhere the people wear military doublets of yellow 
feathers ". A true euatl, that is, the skin flayed from a man (tla- 
caeuatl), is worn by the god Xipe, " the flaj^ed one ", the red god of 
the Yopi and Tlapaneca. The hieroglyph in division 15 of our manu- 
script (plate vii), corresponding to the meaning given here for the 
name, is an eye (ixtli) ; above and below it is a shirt, as shown in d, 
figure 39, but having hands lianging from it and with a gash straight 
across the breast and a few stains below. It is evident that this 
drawing is not meant to represent a feather shirt, but a genuine 
human skin, such as Xipe wore. The opening straight across the 
breast indicates the incision which was made to tear out the victim's 
•heart, and the stains are for blood stains. This is still more clear in 
the kindred hieroglyph in division 24 (plate vii), where the red 
stains — blood stains on a yellow groinid, Avhich indicates the death 
hue of a human skin — are plainly to be recognized. 

After division 15 comes division 16, with the head and hieroglyph 
of Don Diego de San Francisco Teuetzquititzin, of which I have 
already spoken. 

In division 17 is another head having the chieftain's hair dress, 
temillotl. The note says coua-yvitzin, " snake-feather ", and this is 
represented in the hieroglyph by a snake covered with tufts of down. 
The name Coua-iuitl is mentioned in the annals of Chimalpahin. 
Chimalpahin tells us there that after the surrender of the city the 
above-mentioned five princes of Mexico were taken captive to Coy- 
ouacan, and then adds: yhuan teohua Quauhcohuatl yhuan Cohu 
ayhuitl Tecohuatzin Tetlanmecatl quintemolli (" and they sought for 
the priest Quauhcoatl and for CouaiuitI Tecouatzin, Tetlanmecatl"). 
It is not impossible that the CouaiuitI mentioned here, concerning 
whom I know no further particulars, is also the one referred to in 
our manuscript. 



174 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

In division 18 is a head with hair hanging straight down, which, 
according to the marginal note, bears the name Imexayacatzin. 
The hieroglyph is a human leg, upon the thigh of which is painted a 
face. This exactly reproduces the meaning of the name. Xayacatl 
means " the face ", and imexayacatl is literally imex-xayacatl, which 
is derived, with syncopation of the final consonant of the first word, 
from imetzxayacatl, that is, " the face made of her thigh (metz-tli)". 
The name refers to a ceremony which was performed at the broom 
feast, Ochpaniztli, the feast of the goddess Teteo-innan, or Toci. A 
woman was sacrificed at this feast, who, as was customary at the feasts 
of the Mexicans, was considered an image of the divinity in whose 
honor the feast was held, and Avho represented this deity in dress and 
action. This woman was sacrificed by decapitation, a priest hold- 
ing her on his back, and was then immediately flayed. A priest 
dressed himself in the skin, and represented the goddess during the 
remainder of the feast. From the skin of the thigh a mask was 
made, which was called mexayacatl, or more correctly i-mex-xayacatl, 
" the face made of her thigh ". It was worn, together with a peculiar 
headdress, which was called itztlacoliuhqui, " the sharply curved ", 
particularly described in the respective chapter of Sahagun (volume 
2, chapter 30) . It was considered the symbol of coldness and hard- 
ness, of infatuation, of evil, and of sin. I reproduce this mask and 
headdress, /, from the Sahagun manuscript of the Academia de la 
Historia, where the two combined are depicted as the insignia of a 
warrior, under the name mexayacatl. The mask (mexayacatl) and 
the headdress (itztlacoliuhqui) were put on by Cinteotl, the god of 
the maize plant, or more exactly of the ripe, hard, dry ear of corn, 
which was called cintli, who was the son of the old earth mother, 
Teteoinnan, and a battle then ensued between him and his followers 
on the one hand, and the priest clad in the human skin, representing 
the goddess, on the other, which was undoubtedly meant to symbolize 
the driving away of frost and other harmful things which threaten 
the Indian corn. These harmful things were supposed to be conjured 
into the mexayacatl. Therefore at the close of the feast a chosen 
band of warriors carried it at a running pace somewhere across the 
borders into hostile country .« 
■ In the next division, 19, the note gives the name xipanoctzin. This 
should really read xip-panoc-tzin, derived by assimilation from xuili- 
panoc-tzin, just as xip-palli, "color turquesado", is derived from xiuh- 
palli. Accordingly, the name contains the elements xiuh (or, with the 
article, xiuitl), "turquoise", and panoc, ''he who crosses a river" 
( from pano, " to cross a river ") . Both elements are clearly expressed 
in the hieroglyph. Xiuh is expressed by the hieroglyph for tur- 

" Sahagun, v. 2, chap. 30. 



SELEit] MEXICAN PICTURE WRITINGS FRAGMENT II 175 

qiioise (see I, figure 34) and '^crossing the river " by the boat which 
is drawn below it. 

In division 20 (plate vii) the note is again rendered quite illegible 
by the crease ni the page, but I think that I can distinctly make out 
Tepotzitotzin. The name contains the elements tepotz-tli, " hump- 
back ", and itoa, " to speak ". Hence the hieroglyph shows a human 
body with a curved back and beside it the little tongue, the symbol of 
speech. 

In the next division, 21, the note is somewhat illegible, owing to an 
attempted correction. I think I can make out yaotequacuiltzin, 
which might be translated " the old priest of Yaotl, i. e., Tezcatli- 
poca ". There is no hieroglyph. 

In division 22 the explanatory note reads aca-zayol-tzin, that is, 
" reed gnat ". The hieroglyph is the picture of the reed (acatl) and, 
above it, of a gnat (zayolin) , painted brown. 

In division 23 we read Amaquemetzin, "he who wears a garment 
of bark paper". By quemitl, "garment", the Mexicans meant a 
kind of covering usually made of more or less costly feathers, which 
was tied around the neck of idols and hung down in front, and was 
therefore commonly called by the Spaniards " delantal ". Amatl is 
the inner bark of a variety of fig, which was much used in ancient 
Mexico, especially as a cheap adornment for idols. Amaqueme, 
" dressed in a garment of bark paper ", was the name of the idol on 
the mountain near Amaquemecan, in the territory of the Chalca, 
which. Christianized and called Monte Sacro, is still held in great 
veneration by the inhabitants of all the neighboring valleys, pil- 
grimages being made to it from great distances. The hieroglyph 
in division 23 shows the form of the quemitl usual in the manuscripts 
(see e, figure 39, the hieroglyph of Tequemecan, and also c, figure 35, 
the hieroglyph of Aztaquemecan), but it is blank and unpainted save 
for a few black designs, which were probably made with drops of 
hot liquid caoutchouc. Similar paper quemitl with caoutchouc-drop 
markings played an important part in the worship of the mountain 
gods at least. With them were decked the little idols of the moun- 
tain gods, the Eecatotontin, which were made during the Tepeilhuitl, 
the feast of the mountain gods (see g and A, figure 39, the figures of 
the mountains Popocatepetl and Matlalcueye, from the Sahagun 
manuscript of the Biblioteca del Palacio). I will mention, by the 
way, that Kingsborough's artist has erroneously colored this hiero- 
glyph red and yellow, though it must be and is colorless. 

In division 24 (plate vii) the explanatory note gives the name eua- 
tlatitzin, that is, " he who hides the skin ". An euatl, a doublet made 
of a human skin, forms the hieroglyph, like the one in division 15. 
The name eua-tlati-tzin probably refers to the ceremony which was 
performed at the close of Tlacaxipeualiztli, the feast of the god Xipe, 



176 BUREAU OF AMEEICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

when those who for 20 days had worn the skins of the sacrificed vic- 
tims, out of special devotion to Xipe, carried them in solemn proces- 
sion to a certain place in Xipe's temple. This was called eua-tlati-lo, 
" the hiding or putting away of the skins ". 

The twenty-fifth square is blank. In the twenty-sixth square a 
head is drawn which the Avriting above it calls Teilpitzin, that is, 
" he who binds people ". The hieroglyph shows a rope tied in a knot, 
a sufficiently intelligible symbol. 

This ends the list. Few familiar names are mentioned, as Ave see, 
and these belong to about the same period. They are all the direct 
successors of Motecuhzoma, excepting the first one, Cuitlauatzin 
(c, figure 37), who, it is well known, died of smallpox after reigning 
a few weeks, and Avho, excepting the last two gobernadores, Cece- 
patitzin, who succeeded Teuetzquititzin, and his successor, Nanacaci- 
pactzin, were the last of the ancient royal family to exercise any kind 
of royal authority. It therefore seems as though our fragment 
treated of territory which was a royal demesne, but which after Mote- 
cuhzoma's death probably did not pass as a whole to hi^ successors, 
but was in part divided with others. 

It is my opinion that this manuscript formed a part of the col- 
lection brought together by Boturini, and that it is described as num- 
ber 8, section 8, in his Museo Indiano. Boturini there gives the 
following description : Otro ma pa en papel indiano, donde se pin- 
tan, al parecer y por lo que se puede decir ahora, unas tierras sola- 
riegas de senores, empezando de dicho Emperador Moteachziima, y 
siguiendo a otros hasta los tiempos de la cristiandad ("Another 
map on Indian paper, where are painted, apparently and so far as 
can be said now, lands belonging to different lords, beginning with 
the said Emperor Moteuchziima, and afterward to others down to 
the times of Christianity"). 

FRAGMENTS III AND lA^ 

These (plates viii and ix) are two fragments of a larger manu- 
script, which belonged to the collection of the Cavaliere Boturini. In 
the inventory of the coUection made after Boturini's imprisonment 
it is described in the fourth list, under number 2G, in the following 
words: Un mapa grande, papel de maguey gordo con pinturas toscas, 
muy maltratado; trata de las cosas de la conquista de Cuanmana y 
otros lugares, de los Espaholes, con inios rios de sangre, que indican 
las batallas crueles que hubo de los Indios ("A large map on coarse 
aloe paper, with rude paintings, in very bad condition, treats of 
events during the conquest of Cuanmana and other places by the 
Spanish, with rivers of blood, whicli indicates the cruel battles which 
they waged with the Indians")." Boturini himself describes it as 

" Penafiel, Monumentos del arte mexicano. Text, p. 61. 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 




k^ A^ 




i .. 





■ isr-M 
MEXICAN PAINTING-HL 



BULLETIN 28 PLATE VIII 




ILDT FRAGMENT III 



SBLER] MEXICAN PICTURE WRITINGS FRAGMENTS III, IV 177 

number 2, section 20, in the Catalogo del Museo Indiano del Cavallero 
Boturini, somewhat more in detail. He says there : Otro mapa muy 
grande de una pieza, y maltratado a los dos lados, de papel grueso 
mdiano. Tiene de largo algo mas de ocho varas, y de ancho dos 
varas y quarta, y trata con toscas pinturas de las crueles guerras de la 
gentilidad entre diferentes pueblos, cuyos nombres son Hecatepec, 
Huyatepec, Amoltepec, Nientlah, Tzatzaqualan, Hueymotlan, Colte- 
pec, Antlacaltepec, Tepechalla, Xiquipilco, Achalalan, Zayutepec, 
Teconhuac, Totolhuitzecan, Yahueyocan, Zacatzolah, Mazapila, y 
despues de haver demonstrado con unos rios de sangre, assi lo cruento 
de la guerra, como de los prisioneros sacrificados, apunta la llegada 
del gran Cortes, y de los Padres de San Francisco en Quauhmanco, 
etc. ("Another map, very large, in one piece, in bad cojidition at both 
sides, on thick Indian paper. It is some 8 ells long and 2| ells 
wide, and treats in rude paintings of the cruel wars of the gentry 
with various tribes, whose names are Hecatepec, Huyatepec, Amol- 
tepec, Nientlah, Tzatzaqualan, Hueymetlan, Coltepec, Antlacaltepec, 
Tepechalla, Xiquipilco, Achalalan, Zayutepec, Teconhuac, Totol- 
huitzecan, Yahueyocan, Zacatzotlah, Mazapila, and after having 
shown by rivers of blood both the cruel nature of the war and the 
prisoners who were sacrificed, it relates to the coming of the great 
Cortes and of the Franciscan fathers to Quauhmanco, etc.")« 

That these descriptions refer to the manuscript of which fragments 
III (plate viii) and IV (plate ix) of the present collection are parts 
follows from the general characterization of the manuscript and from 
the reference to the rivers of blood (rios de sangre) , which are indeed 
very conspicuous on our page ; unfortunately, they are not as obvious 
in the uncolored photographic reproduction. This is clearly proved 
by the fact that three of the names of places mentioned by Boturini 
are actually mentioned in the explanatory notes of our fragment III. 
The last three places mentioned by Boturini, Yahuayohca, Zacateotlah, 
and Mazapillah (I read the names thus), are the ones that occur on 
the fragment. Our fragment must belong to one of the original 
lateral margins of the manuscript. The missing pieces, which must 
be very considerable, since in Boturini's time the whole measured 8 
ells in length and 2^ ells in width, are extant elsewhere, whether intact 
or not I can not say. The Museo Nacional de Mexico possesses lari?e 
portions of them. I saw copies of them last year in the Mexican de- 
partment of the American historical exhibition at Madrid, and other 
parts— as it seems, very important ones, taken from what was orig-i- 
nally the middle— I saw years ago in the Biblioteca Nacionarin 
Mexico. 

Boturini states that there had been in his possession a second, similar 

Mdea de una nueva liistoria general de la America septentrional. App., pp 38 39 
7238— No. 28— 05 12 • 



178 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bdll. 28 

manuscript, on which, among others, were the place names Tonalxo- 
ehitlan, Qnauhtepan, Ynenechcoyan, Tepeyahualco, Ohocotlan, Tlilal- 
pan, and Ameyalato on the one side ; and on the other, Huixocotepec, 

Huecoyotzi, Coyocan, Quetzalcohuapan, Tlacotlan, 

Atlan, Quimichocan, Chipetzinco, Qnanapa, Tepeyahualco, 

Yxtlahuaca, Ocotzoquauhtla. This and the first manuscript were 
found together— enterrados en una caxa baxo las ruinas de la antigua 
ermita de la jurisdiccion de Huamantla, Provincia de Tlaxcallan, y de 
alii los hice sacar (" buried in a box beneath the ruins of the ancient 
monastery in the district of Huamantla, province of Tlaxcallan, and 
from there I had them taken")— and he adds: "Y solo se p-.eden 
interpretar en un todo, en occasion que se consulten los manuscritos 
de la Historia general (" and they can only be interpreted as a 
whole, whenever the manuscripts of the general history are con- 
sulted"). 

This information is very important, because the region from which 
fragments III and IV of our collection came is thus definitely fixed. 
The place called " Quauhmanco " in Boturini's description of the leaf 
and " Cuanmana " in the inventory is undoubtedly Huamantla, situ- 
ated in the province of Tlaxcallan, at the northeast base of the Cerro 
de la Malinche (the mountain called in ancient times after the goddess 
Matlalcueye) , in the neighborhood of which Boturini found the two 
remarkabie manuscripts. Huamantla doubtless stands for Qua- 
mantla, which, in turn, is derived by contraction from Quauh-man- 
tlan. In fact, there are still extant in that region many of the names 
which Boturini mentions as occurring on these two charts. I can not, 
it is true, accurately define the position of the three several places 
whose names occur on fragment III (plate viii), but it is beyond 
a doubt that they were in the same region. 

As for the representations on these pages, the portions belonging 
originally to the middle must be distinguished from those belonging 
to the borders. The principal part of the left side of fragment III 
(plate viii) belongs to the part which was originally the middle. 
Here we see, first, surrounded by flying spears and fighting warriors, 
a curious design in Avhich a stream of water, painted blue, Avith draw- 
ings of currents and whirlpools and with the usual snail shells on the 
branches, is intertwined with a band winding in a similar manner 
and frayed at the ends, composed of alternate sections of gray with 
dark figures and yellow with red figures. The alternate dark sections 
and light yellow sections with red figures denote fire, and the entire 
symbol is nothing more than the pictorial hieroglyphic expression for 
the well-known phrase atl tlachinolli, or teoatl tlachinolli, which may 
be understood as meaning literally " water and fire ", although its 
original meaning was probably something else, and which is generally 
used in the sense of " war ". The same symbol, somewhat ditfereutly 



SELER] MEXICAN PICTURE WRITINGS FRAGMENTS III, IV 



179 



drawn (see «, figure 40), may be seen in the headdress of the god 
Camaxtli, the war god of the Tlaxcaltecs, who is opposite the fire 
god, the ruler of the ninth Aveek, which begins with ce Coatl, on 
page 9 of the Tonalamatl in the Aubin-Goupil collection. I have 
shown that the tonalamatl occurs in the most diverse Mexican picture 
writings Avith the same regents and essentially the same symbols or 
symbols derived from the same idea." If w^e take the Borgian codex, 
for instance, we find here, too, the fire god depicted as the ruler of the 
nintli Aveek, ce Coatl. But opposite him we have not the effigy of 
Camaxtli, the war god of Tlaxcala, but a design (&, figure 40) in 
which we clearly recognize, besides a scorpion and flying arrows, the 





/ 



22S 



C 9 

Fig. 40. Symbols and figures from the Mexican codices. 

stream of water and the ascending smoke of fire. In another parallel 
passage in the same manuscript there is again draAvn opposite the fire 
god, instead of the war god, merely a scorpion, a stream of water, and 
a burning house, c, teoatl tlachinolli, the symbol of w^ar. 

The bodies of the warriors on our fragment (plate viii) , to the right 
of the teoatl tlachinolli, the symbol of war, are painted brown and 
the faces yellow, like the other figures on this fragment. Moreover, 
all the Avarriors have a characteristic red face painting, which con- 
sists of one vertical stripe and two horizontal stripes. This painting 
undoubtedly has some special ethnic significance. At least it differs 



" tJber den Codex Borgia und die verwandten aztekischen Bilderscbriften. 



180 BUREAU OF AMERTCAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

from the joainting customary among the Mexican warriors, who, as 
we learn from Sahagun, app. 3, chapter 5, and as we see represented 
throughout the Mendoza codex, colored the whole body black except 
the face, and this they painted with a few black stripes, on which they 
sprinkled powdered iron pyrites — niman michio, mitoaya motliltzo- 
tia, hapetztli ic conpotonia ininechival, " Y en la cara se ponian cier- 
tas ray as con tinta y margagita ".'* On the other hand, I find face 
painting like that of the warriors of our fragment III (plate viii) on 
the head set upon a mountain, which is given in the Mendoza codex 
as the hieroglyph of the city of Otompan, " in the district of the Oto- 
mis ", d (figure 40), as well as in a draAving, e^ which, in the list of 
names of persons of Uexotzinco (Manuscrit Mexicain number 3, Bib- 
liotheque Nationale), denotes a man named Chichimeca. We know 
that the name Chichimeca was borne as an honorary title by the rulers 
of Tetzcoco and, especially, by the Tlaxcaltecs. Keel and yellow 
j)ainting is mentioned as occurring among the Mexicans, but it was 
not a mark of distinction regularly conferred by official consent, as I 
would emphasize in controversion of some recent statements, but a 
symbolic ceremon}^, performed but once, by which it was publicly 
made known that a warrior had taken a prisoner alone, without help 
from others. This painting, which consisted in coloring the body 
and temples yellow and the face red, was applied to the fortunate 
warrior in the presence of the king by the calpixque, the governors 
of the provinces, and the commanders of divisions of troops stationed 
at a distance, the recipient being afterward rewarded by the king. 
It is exactly the same decoration as the one worn by those who sacri- 
ficed a prisoner by fire at the feast Xocotl-uetzi in honor of the fire 
god. I have spoken elsewhere of the meaning of this manner of 
painting the face, which is really that of the goddess Ciuacouatl, or 
Quilaztli (see Ausland, 1891, page 865). 

Beside atl tlachinolli, the symbol of war, we have six warrior fig- 
ures and the lower half of a seventh in our fragment III (plate viii). 
Five of them wear the warrior's hair dress (temillotl) (see 7 and m, 
figure 37, and the heads in divisions 3, 9, 11, and 17, counting from the 
lower path, on fragment II (plate vii) of this colle<:tion). All these 
are armed with the shield (chimalli) and the club (maquauitl), which 
has an edge of obsidian splinters on both sides.'^ So, too, the three 
warriors drawn on the right side of the fragment have the temillotl 
and are armed with shield and maquauitl. Only one warrior in the 
left-hand row, the fifth from below, has the other style of hair dress, 
Avhich I described above as tzotzocolli, and which is illustrated by o, 

" Zeitschrift fiir Bthnologie, 1887, v. 21, p. 175 and following, "das Tonalamatl der 
Aubinschen Sammlung ". Comple rendu, seventh session, Cougr&s International des 
Americanistes, Berlin, 18SS, pp. .521-523. 

" See also the pictures of Mexican warriors' ornaments, m, p, and q, fig. 37. 



SELER] MEXICAN PTCTUKE WRITINGS — FRAGMENTS III, IV 181 

/>, q. figure 37. This warrior is not armed with shield and club, but 
with arrow (mitl), bow (tlanitolli), and quiver (mi-comitl). The 
different mode of wearing the hair may be due merely to difference of 
rank, for the hair dress (temillotl), was the distinguishing mark of 
the tequiua, the great war chieftains. Still I think that there is also 
an ethnic difference apparent here. The maquauitl was the national 
weapon of the Mexican tribes, that is, of the inhabitants of the valley 
of Mexico and those who spoke their language. Besides this the spear 
(tlacochtli, tlatzontectli), thrown with the spear thrower (atlatl),was 
also used as an effective weapon. On the other hand, bow, arrow, and 
quiver were the weapons of the mountain tribes, the Chichimecs. 
The name Chichimecatl is reproduced in the Boturini codex and 
elsewhere simply by the picture of a bow and arrow (/ and g. figure 
40). The word Chichimecatl includes a multitude of very different 
tribes, speaking different languages. In the vicinity of the highlands 
of Mexico, and also in the district referred to on our fragment, that is, 
the region lying east and north of Tlaxcala, the only mountain tribe 
of importance is the Otomi. It is a remarkable fact that this very 
tribe wore the hair in a mode most closely resembling that which I 
have described above as tzotzocolli, which may be seen worn by the 
fifth figure from below in the left-hand row on our fragment. The 
Otomi, says Sahagun (volume 10, chapter 29), shaved the hair on the 
forehead and let it grow very long at the back of the head. This 
hair hanging down long behind was called piochtli. At the gates of 
Tlaxcallan, as we know from Gomara, Otomi was actually spoken. 
The god of the Tlaxcaltecs was not TezcatlijDOca bearing the spear 
thrower, but the arrow-shooting Camaxtli, who is never seen without 
the pouch in which he carries his arrowheads of flint. And the 
ruder, more rustic, but also warlike, nature which was attributed to 
the Tlaxcaltecs was undoubtedly due to the stronger admixture of the 
indigenous Chichimec, that is, Otomi, element. 

The shields which the chieftains hold in their hands are of three 
sorts. The fourth figure from below in the left row holds a shield 
whose surface is decorated with five tufts of down arranged in a quin- 
cunx. Such shields are mentioned in the Sahagun manuscript mider 
the name of iui-teteyo, " decorated wdth single balls of feathers ". 
Another shield, on whose surface are five small gold plates arranged 
in a quincunx, is called, correspondingly, teocuitla-teteyo. The shield 
with the tufts of down arranged in a quincunx is carried by the idol 
of Uitzilopochtli (see the picture of it in Codices Telleriano-Remen- 
sis I, page 9, and Vaticanus A, page 71, which represents the fifteenth 
annual festival, Panquetzaliztli, the feast of Uitzilopochtli) . Uitzilo- 
pochtli's shield is called teueuelli. It is described as follows in the 
Sahagun manuscript of the Biblioteca Lorenziana : Otlatl in tlachi- 



182 BUREAU OF AMEEICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

valli, otlachimalli, nauhcan tlapotonilli quauhtlachcayotica, iuicha- 
chapanqui, moteneua teueuelli ; that is, " made of reeds, with eagle's 
down stuck on it in four places in conglomerate masses; it is called 
teueuelli ". Together with the shield, Uitzilopochtli bears four spears 
that are tipped with tufts of down instead of stone points, which were, 
called tlauagomalli.'^ The shield with the tufts of down also appears 
constantly in the Mendoza codex, where the symbol of war — shield, 
spear thrower, and bundle of spears — is represented before the pic- 
ture of the king. From this latter fact it has been concluded that 
this shield was used by the Mexican kings; but I doubt whether 
this was the case. Uitzilopochtli bears this shield, as he bears the 
tlauagomalli (the four spears tipped with tufts of down instead of 
stone) ; that is, he has the weapons which were placed in the hand 
of those destined to a sacrificial death — to the sacrificio gladiatorio 
(see a and 5, figure 39), because to a certain extent he represents the 
conception of a warrior's death — a death by sacrifice on the round 
stone (temalacatl). There is an interesting statement in regard to 
these weapons of Uitzilopochtli in the annals of Chimalpahin. We 
read there that the elder Motecuhzoma in the year 1440, before he 
was installed as a ruler, went to the Chalca to beg the princes of 
Amaquemecan to set in motion the otlanamitl and the teueuelli (ynic 
conolinique in otlanamitl in teueuelli), in order that the Tepanecs 
might be subdued (inic opopoliuh in Tepanecatl).'' Here teueuelli 
is the name of Uitzilopochtli's shield and otlanamitl should read 
otlanammitl. The latter word is derived by contraction from otla- 
nauh-mitl and means " the four bamboo arrows ". The whole is 
undoubtedly only a figure of speech.'' Motecuhzoma simply asks the 
Chalca to support him in y\-ixv against the Tepanecs. But that a 
figurative expression of this kind could be used proves that teueuelli 
universally denoted the shield of the war god, for the god of the 
Chalca was not Uitzilopochtli, but Tezcatlipoca. 

The shields of the other warriors on our fragment III (plate viii) are 
of two types, the two which occur most frequently among the armor 
depicted in the tribute list and in the Mendoza codex. The first, 
third, and sixth warriors, from below, in the left row and the lower 
of the two on the right side, have shields whose surface exhibits a 
stepped meander pattern, undoubtedly executed in feather work, as 
on the ancient Mexican shields in the Museum of National Antiqui- 
ties at Stuttgart. A shield of this kind was called xicalcoliuhqui 



° VerofCentlichungen aus dem Koniglielien Museum fiir Volkerkunde, v. 1, p. 122. 

6 Chimalpahin, Seventh Relation, pp. 105, 106. 

" Remi Simeon translates the passage: qu'ils transportassent les engins de guerre pour 
renverser les Tepaneques ("that they would transport the engines of war to overthrow 
the Tepanecs"). It does not refer to engines of war. nor would the Chalcas. if they had 
owned such a fetish, have actually given it out of their keeping, nor, finally, does ou-oli-nl 
mean to transport to any other place. 



SELER] MEXICAN PICTURE WRITINGS — -FRAGMENTS III, IV 188 

chimalli." The pattern on the Stuttgart shield is executed in green 
and yellow, and the shields of this kind on the tribute list have the 
same colors, without a single exception. On our fragment the colors 
chosen are blue and red. The second warrior, from below, in the left 
row and the adjacent upper right-hand warrior have a shield with 
concave cross bands curving upward, Avith one golden crescent above 
and three below. Such shields were called cuexyo chimalli.'^ The 
background of these shields is usualh'' red, and so it is on our frag- 
ment. The warrior who follows in the upper row on the left, of whom 
only tlie lower half is visible, has a shield with a plain red surface. 
Concerning the other weapons and articles of dress there is not much 
to be said. 

The maquauitl, strangely enough, is painted blue in every instance. 
The Mexicans frequently denoted metal (silver), and usually tur- 
quoise mosaic, by blue in their paintings. But there can be no ques- 
tion of metal here, for a metal club would not be armed with splin- 
ters of obsidian, and turquoise mosaic was employed only in the 
ornamentation of costly gala weapons, if at all. The clubs might 
have been painted blue in imitation of turquoise mosaic, just as war- 
riors wore wooden ear pegs painted blue instead of those incrusted 
with turquoise, as worn by the king.'' 

Arrows and spears are represented, as in all Mexican paintings, 
tipped with stone. The feathers at the nock end are applied some- 
what below the end of the shaft, so that the end of the arrow can be 
placed on either the bow string or the peg of the spear thrower. The 
feathers are drawn en face, that is, with the broad side next the shaft. 
This, however, is probably due to defective drawing. In reality they 
must have lain perpendicular to the shaft. Thus, eyes are never 
drawn in profile, as they actually are in a face draw^n in profile, but 
are always drawn en face. A ball of clown is invariably attached to 
the base of the feather. The quiver worn by one w^arrior on our frag- 
ment is painted yellow. Math black sj^ots, and is therefore supposed to 
be made of jaguar skin. All the figures are naked, save for the 
maxtlatl, " breechcloth," which is here painted red in all cases. 

The warriors in the row on the left are represented as engaged in 
combat. Each of the three on the right side is dragging a prisoner, 
and broad streams of blood mark the paths they have traversed with 
their captives. Opposite the middle one of the three warriors is a 
man who seems to be in the act of receiving the victim with animated 
gestures. He wears only a red cap on his head, and is perhaps meant 
for a priest. 

" Veroffentlichungen aus dem Koniglichen Museum fiir Volkerkunde, v. 1, pp. 140, 141. 

BZeitschrift fiir Etlinologie, 1S91, v. 23, p. 137. 

•^ Yuan conaquia xiuhnacochtii, uel xiuitl, auh yu cequiutin gan quauitl yn tlachiualli 
tiasiuhycuilolli (" and they wear turquoise ear pegs, whicli are made of turquoise, and 
otliers wear them of wood only, which are painted after the manner of turquoise"). 
Sahagun, v. 2, chap. 37. Manuscript Bihlioteca del Palacio. 




<fe 'c^ ^ 



1 84 BUREAU OF AMEEICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

These representations of war and capture are bordered on the right 
side of the fragment by another series of pictures at right angles to 
the former. Here, somewhat crudely and awkwardly executed, is a 
series of place hieroglyphs, before each of which is drawn a person- 
age seated on a chair, who must be meant for the ancestor of the tribe 
settled in that place. Most of these personages seem to hold flowers 
in their hands, probably to express peaceful enjoyment, therefore 
secure dominion. The king in Codex Vaticanus A, page 86, is sim- 
ilarly depicted, richly dressed, with a tobacco pipe in one hand and a 
bunch of flowers in the other. 

At the beginning of the series below, on the left, there is still to 
be seen the head of one of these figures and the bunch of flowers 
which he holds in his hand. All the rest is missing. 

Then follows a mountain with a thatched house on its top, and in 
front of it sits a man whose name is represented by the eagle's head 
above. The explanatory note reads : nica yahuayohca yn toca cuitli 

yn toconcol, that is, " here is the j^laco 
called 3^aua3^ohcan. Cuitli, ' hawk ', is 
the ancestor ". Yauayocan might mean 
'■' where they walk in a circle ". Cuitli 
is undoubtedly a dialect expression for 
'Z^::^ cuixtli (cuixin, cuiztli), the name of 

^ a smaller bird of prey (cuixin, " mi- 

FiG. 41. Mexican glyphs from list of -, ,,^ r n -\ ■ 1a- ^ „ ,^„^,^„,, 

names lano ) . 1 find cuixtli as a proper 

name, for instance, in the list of names 
of Almoyauacan in the Manuscrit Mexicain number 3, Bibliotheque 
Nationale (see «, figure 41). 

Then follows a house with a stone roof and a person in front of it, 
above whom we see the head of the wind god by way of name 
hieroglyph. The place hieroglyph which doubtless was originally 
over the house is missing, and as there is no explanatory note there is 
naturally nothing to be said regarding the place. According to the 
hieroglyph, the person must have been named Ehecatl, a word which 
often occurs as the name of a person. On account of their unusual 
form, I give three designs, r;, d^ <?, which in the list of names of 
Almoyauacan (Manuscrit Mexicain number 3) designate persons hj 
the name of Ehecatl. 

Next follows a mountain Avith a bush on the top, painted rose- 
color; in front of it, a house with a stone roof; and before this, sitting 
on the tepotzo-icpalli, the woven-straw seat with a back, a personage 
whose name is indicated by a jaguar's head above. The note says: 
Auh nicah zacateotlah yn toconcol yn tocah ocenllotli (" and here 
follows Zacateotlan. His ancestor's name was Ocelotl''). Boturini 
read this Zacatzotlah. As I read the name, it contains the words 





a 





^ 



^ 



( 




CO) 






i 



■-/ 



^ 





SELER] MEXICAN PICTURE WRITINGS FRAGMENTS III, IV 185 

zaca-tl, " grass ", teo-tl, " god ", and the final syllable tla or tlan, 
which has the significance of a locative. Oceotl, " jaguar ", is a very 
common joroper name. 

The last picture in the series is again a house with a stone roof; 
but the place hieroglyph, which nuist have been there originally, is 
missing. A personage is drawn in front of the house, whose narne is 
given above by the representation of a stone knife (tecpatl). Here, 
too, there is a note, but it is almost illegible. The place name, in 

particular, can not be deciphered. I read : Nica mazap Ic 

yn toca . 

The notes, few words as they contain, are remarkable on account of 
their dialect form. In classic Aztec, nican means " here " ; toc5col, 
" our ancestor "; ocelotl, " the jaguar ". The writer who added the 
notes on our fragment III (plate vm) drops the final nasal after the 
short a in nican, and writes nica and nicah. And thus yahuayohca 
and zacateotlah probably stand for yauayocan and zacateotlan. After 
the long vowels o and e, on the other hand, lie inserts a nasal. He 
distinctly writes, both times, toconcol, " our ancestor ", and ocenllotl, 
" the jaguar ". I will mention here that, also in Tezozomoc's Cronica 
Mexicana, compilli is written for copilli, and occasionally also ocen- 
lotl.^^ So, too, Ave occasionally find in Sahagun Tontec for Totec (one 
of Xipe's names). 

Fragment IV is, as I have said, and as inspection shows, a piece of 
the same manuscript to which fragment III (plate vm) belonged; 
but it is difficult to determine whether it should be added to any part 
of it. 

On fragment IV (plate ix) we liave, to the right, the figure of a 
warrior and the shield and maqnauitl of another. The face painting 
and ornaments are the same as those of the warrior figures on the 
previous fragment, but the shield has a plain red surface. Beside the 
foremost warrior is a word Avhich I read Ehcaquiyauh. The quiyauh 
seems quite plain, but the other part is perhaps doubtful. Ehcaqui- 
yauh would mean " wind and rain ". Below the figures of warriors 
there is executed on a large scale a stream of water, with drawings of 
Avhirlpools on its surface and snail shells on its branches. On the 
upper edge there is a series of representations, proceeding from the 
left, which correspond to those on the right side of fragment III 
(plate vm). But there are no explanatory notes. The houses are 
thatched with straw. The small benches on which the personages sit 
are all painted blue, like the wood of the maquauitl. The first person 
from the left seems to carry the picture of a six-rayed or seven-rayed 
star, painted yellow, above his head, by way of a name hieroglyph. 
Hence the man's name was probably Citlal. Over the head of the sec- 
ond T think I see the drawing of a bone, and over the third that of a 



186 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



[P.CLL. 2S 



thorn. These people were therefore probably called Omitl and Uitz. 
The angular figure over the head of the fourth person, which seems 
likewise to be a name hieroglyph, I can not explain. 

Footprints are drawn on both fragments, running between the 
various representations, denoting a road or a journey in each respec- 
tive direction. On fragment III (plate viii) the lower row of foot- 
prints leads from'above on the left to below on the right; the upper 
row from below on the right to above on the left. On fragment IV 
(plate ix) there is a similar indication of paths leading in two direc- 
tions. If we hold the fragment as the figures stand, the footprints 
on the left lead downward from above— in this row there is but one 




Fig. 42. Figures from Mexican manuscript, fragment IV. 

footprint— but on the right they lead upward from below. The 
tracks themselves, rudely sketched, are very different from the usual 
delicate drawing which we saw, for instance, in the paths on frag- 
ment II (plate vii). But this very fact showed me at a glance that 
a fragment preserved years ago in the Biblioteca Nacional at ]\Iexico, 
from which I made a Httle drawing at the time, must have belonged 
to the same large manuscript. Here, in a bow-shaped green inclo^^ure, 
are to be seen the four persons whom I reproduce in figure ^2 from 
the drawing just mentioned. Above, on the right, is a man invested 
in the insignia of a priest, meca-cozcatl and ie-tecomatl (see pages 
1.46 to 148), wearing the face painting of the fire god, the god who 



seler] 



MEXICAN PICTUEE WETTINGS FEAGMENT V 



was considered the old and orio;inal god, and holding in his hand a 
nosegay and a spear. Opposite him is a goddess with an erect, horn- 
like tuft of feathers on her head, therefore probably Xochiquetzal. 
Below, on the right, is an attendant god or priest with a banner in 
his hand. Below, on the left, is another, who is procuring fire by 
friction. Beside the latter the date chicuey ytzcuintli is Avritten, 
which must be meant to represent the name of this person. Beside 
the banner-bearer is the word Xochitonal ( ? ) . Beside the chief 
figure above, on the right, is another explanatory note, which I prob- 
ably copied incorrectly, for I can not interpret it; but it begins Avith 





? 





;\P 



/ 



=> 1-. ' G 

i o p q t 

Pig. 43. Mexican name glyphs. 

the word nicah, the same word in the same dialect form with Avhich 
the notes begin on fragment III (plate viii) of our collection. 

It is greatly to be desired that the present very able and energetic 
director of the Museo Nacional of Mexico may speedily publish also 
the fragments of this gi-eat manuscript, now in the possession of 
the museum, for in spite of its coarse and clumsy drawings the 
manuscript is very interesting. 

FEAGMENT V 

Next we have a piece of agave paper 42 cm. long and 15i cm. wide, 
divided into ten divisions by cross lines (plate x). The writer seems 
to have begun in the old way (see fragment I, plates ii to vi of this 



188 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

collection), at the bottom, and to have proceeded upward, for there 
appears to have been nothing above the topmost line. It is to be 
noted that the drawings are made in a different ink, blacker and more 
permanent, than that in w-hich the names were entered. 

About the middle of the fragment, in the sixth division from below, 
we have the hieroglyph of a place. I think the explanatory note 
should be read tezontepec. The hieroglyph is in the familiar form of 
a mountain (tepe-tl) bearing a tree. But the mountain is here 
divided, as it were, into a series of cliffs and prominences, which are 
painted a light bluish green in the middle and reddish at the edges, 
and its surface is diagonally crossed by a band contrasting sharply 
with the rest of the coloring. The light diagonal band is prob- 
ably intended to recall the familiar hieroglyph of the stone (tetl) 
(see n, figure 37, and «, figure 43, the hieroglyph of Tepoxauac, 
"where the stones are loose"). The alternately lighter and darker 
portions in this hieroglyph reproduce the various veinings of stone. 
In our hieroglyph irregular black stripes occur, both on the diagonal 
band and on the various cliffs and prominences of the mountain. 
This, I believe, is meant to indicate, the porous quality of the stone, for 
tezontli means "stone froth". This was the Mexican name for a 
porous stone which occurs in the valley of Mexico, and which, like 
the Roman travertine, has been much used for building purposes from 
the earliest times. In the Pintura del Gobernador, Alcaldes y Regi- 
dores de Mexico, which is preserved in the archives of the Duke of 
Osuna, a village called Tezontepec (6, same figure) is mentioned in a 
list with Hueypochtlan, Tequisquiac, Nestlalapan, Tlemaco, etc., as 
subject to a " comandero ". It is very likely the place in the dis- 
trict of Tula, state of Hidalgo, which is still known by that name. 
The report published by Doctor Pehafiel, concerning the municipal 
divisions of the Republic of Mexico in 1884, mentions still another 
Tezontepec in the district of Pachuca. Of course it is impossible to 
state with certainty which Tezontepec may be meant here. 

In the other divisions (plate x) there is a man on the left and a 
woman on the right, except the two uppermost divisions, in which 
there is only a woman. The woman is always recognized by the 
manner of wearing the hair, which is marked by a bunch on the neck 
and two braids standing erect above the forehead, like horns. The 
names of the persons are written over them, and behind some of 
the heads a name hieroglyph is given. Several red dots are 
painted between the man and the woman in each division, varying 
from 4 to 8 in number. They are usually arranged in two rows, 
and where the number is uneven the row containing the smaller 
number of dots is placed uppermost. Here again the writer seems 
to have proceeded from below upward. The whole was probably 
a sort of parish register of the village of Tezontepec, in which the 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



BULLETIN 28 PLATE X 



^''M 






1v 



,.i? ;V ■%<:li 



ji 3- 



# 



^*~^ 



t'i^ 



'^?c, 



Sj 



£■(1 



{U'A ri 



iM 



MEXICAN PAINTING-HUMBOLDT FRAGMENT V 



SELEE] MEXICAN" PICTURE WRITINGS FRAGMENT V 189 

man and wife in every household were given, with their names and 
the number of their children. This is confirmed by the fact that in 
the two topmost divisions, where only a woman and a number of red 
dots are entered, after the woman's name is the remark " yc ", which 
is the abbreviation for ycnociuatl, " widow ". 

In the lowest division, over the man's head is written the name 
lolenzo te s. fo, that is, Lorenzo de San Francisco — for in the Mexican 
language there is no r nor d — and behind it is a hieroglyph which 
is partially destroyed and somewhat hidden by a fold in the paper, 
but is still clearly to be recognized as the drawing of a gridiron 
(see (?, figure 43), the hieroglyph for the name Laurentius. The 
woman opposite him is named Ana, and the number of red dots is 
eight. 

In the second division (plate x) from below the name Antonio is 
written above the man's head. Behind it was a hieroglyph, but 
unfortunately it is now wholly obliterated. The woman opposite 
him is called Catharina, and the number of red dots is eight. 

In the third division from below the head, the name, and the 
hieroglyph of the man have been entirely destroyed by the fraying 
and tearing of the paper. The woman's name is Ana, and the num- 
ber of red dots is eight. 

In the fourth division the name over the man's head has also been 
destroyed, and the hieroglyph was hidden by a fold in the paper. 
I reproduce in f/, figure 43, as much of it as I could see. The number 
of red dots is eight. 

In the fifth division (plate x) from below I think I can read, above 
the man's head, matheo te s. sepastian. The hieroglyph is an arm 
painted yellowish broAvn, and in the hand is a round object painted 
light blueish green. I think that this is meant for the hieroglyph 
designating matheo, for ma-itl is the Mexican for " the arm ", " the 
hand ". The name of the woman opposite is not clear to me. " The 
number of reddish dots is six. 

In the sixth division, as I have already stated, are the name and 
hieroglyph of the village Tezontepec. 

In the seventh division, above the man's head, only clemente can 
still be read. I can not interpret the hieroglyph. The woman's name 
is missing. Six (or eight) red dots are given. 

In the eighth division, from below, in the note over the man's head, 
I can recognize distinctly only the second word. It is osola. The 
hieroglyph behind it seems to be intended for a bird's head with a 
tall crest of feathers. This may refer to the name ; for col-in means 
the quail. Over the woman's head is a very much faded explanatory 

note, of which I can make out nothing but ana d Rey tz. The 

number of red dots is four. 
Before each of the windows in the two uppermost divisions there 



][90 BUREAU OF AMERTCAN- ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

are five red dots. The lower one is named Juana, the upper one 
Maria. Behind the upper one is a design which looks like the mono- 
gram M A when cut in wood, and probably stands for the name Maria. 
Elsewhere— for instance, in the Duke of Osuna's Pintura— the 
name Maria is represented by a crown; for Maria is the queen of 
heaven. Behind Juana's head is a hieroglyph which represents an 
eye in an angle pointing upward, and below it three drops of 
water. This may be the hieroglyph for icno, " orphaned '\ " wid- 
owed ". In the lists of names of persons in the Manuscrit Mexicain 
number 3 of the Bibliotheque Nationale this idea is always expressed 
by tears (see e, Icnotlacatl; /, icno-ix). 

This document, too, in my opinion, belonged to the Boturini col- 
lection. In the catalogue of Boturini's Museo Indiano, under num- 
ber 10, section 21, are mentioned siete pedazos de mapas en papel 
Indiano, de los pueblos Tezarco, Tlacoapan, Coyotepec y Tezontepec 
(" seven pieces of maps on Indian paper, of the villages of Tezarco, 
Tlacoapan, Coyotepec, and Tezontepec ") . One of these seven frag- 
ments, therefore, was designated by the name of a village, whose 
name and hieroglyph were found on our fragment V (plate x^l. 
Since the majority of the fragments of our collection belonged, as we 
shall see, to the Boturini collection, it is probable that this is not an 
accidental coincidence. 

FEAGMENT VI 

This is a piece of agave paper of the size of a quarto sheet (dimen- 
sions of fragment, 20 by 21 cm.), and is covered on one side with fig- 
ures and drawings (plate xi). This is the document reproduced 
and described by A. von Humboldt in his Vues des Cordilleres et 
Monuments des Peuples indigenes de I'Amerique, under the title 
" Piece de proces en ecriture hieroglyphique (legal document in hiero- 
glyphic writing)." 

In the middle of the fragment is a ground plan of buildings. To 
the left of it are written the words ciudad de Tezcuco {'' city of 
Tezcuco "). It is therefore clear that this is the ground plan of the 
capital of that name situated opposite Mexico on the other shore of 
the lake. In the middle of the right side a path leads into, or, 
perhaps more correctly, from the heart of the city, as the 
position of the footprints shows. At right angles to the first 
path and parallel to the right side, near the edge, there is a path 
which, as it seems, separates two smaller quarters from the mam 
body of the town. In the center of the main part there is a 
large group of buildings, which is doubtless meant to represent 
the palace. Most conspicuous is a square room, which is entered 
by a door on the right. Door posts and rafters, which were 
usually of wood, are ^designated by their red color. Bows of 



r 








V 




SELEK] MEXICAN PICTURE WHITINGS FRAGMENT VI 1^1 

pillars similarly painted, therefore probably of the same material, 
traverse the room. This corresponds exactly to what Juan Bautista 
de Pomar tell us of Nezahualcoyotl's palace at Tezcuco. He says 
that the buildings stood on raised terraces. The principal room was 
a hall over 20 ells in length and breadth. In the interior were 
many wooden pillars standing at interA^als on stone bases, the pil- 
lars in their turn supporting the beams and joists: Son sobre 
terraplenos de un estado, lo que menos de cinco, u seis el que mas. 
Los principales aposentos que tenian eran unas salas de veinte brazas 
y mas de largo, y otras tantas en ancho, porque eran cuadrados, y 
en medio clellos muchos pilares de madera de trecho a trecho, 
sobre grandes brazas de piedra sobre las quales ponian las madres 
en que cargaba la demas madera (" Thej^ stand on terraces of one 
height, five or six. The principal apartments were halls more than 20 
ells in length and of width as great, because they were square, and 
in the middle were many wooden columns at intervals upon great 
stones, upon Avhich pillars rested the beams of the ceilings ") . Pomar's 
other statements in regard to the palace seem also to correspond 
with what we find drawn on our fragment. He says the entrance to these 
halls led from a courtyard, the ground of which was covered with 
a smooth layer of cement, and which was reached by a flight of steps. 
Besides these state apartments there were also a great number of 
special buildings for distinguished guests, for the women, and for the 
other numerous and various attendants of the palace, kitchens, closed 
courtyards, etc. Abia en estas casas aposentos dedicaclos para 
los reyes de Tacuba donde eran aposentados, quando a esta ciudad 
venian. Tenian aposentos para los demas seiiores inferiores del vej, 
sin otras muchas salas en que hacian sus audiencias y juzgados, y 
otras de consejos de guerra, y otras de la musica y cantos ordinarios, 
y otras en que vivian las mugeres, con otros muchos palacios y grandes 
cocinas y corrales ('' There were in these houses apartments set 
apart for the kings of Tacuba, where they were lodged when they 
came to this city. There were apartments for all the other lords, in- 
ferior to the king, besides many other halls in which they gave audi- 
ences and delivered judgment, and others for councils of war, and 
others for music and ordinary singing, and others in which the women 
lived, with many other palaces and great kitchens and courtyards "). 
We see in fact on our fragment a staircase leading up to these edifices. 
We see, besides the principal building, five smaller, straw-thatched 
houses, and also a small square room, in which posts, but no doors, 
are indicated, and it might therefore be a closed courtyard (corral). 
A few similar courtyards, adjacent to each other, are indicated on our 
fragment, in addition to the main congeries of buildings, the actual 
palace, in the upper left-hand corner of the plan. 

Around the sides of the main body of the town, as well as of the two 



192 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [cull. 28 

separate quarters, numerals have been set down : single marks, which 
must mean ones ; groups of five marks, of which, however, there are 
never more than three sets ; and black circles, which must necessarily 
mean twenties, and therefore stand here in the place of the little flag 
which is generally the sign employed for the numeral 20. A^^iere 
more than five black circles occur five of them are connected by a line, 
the number 100 being thus emphasized. Besides these numerals,, 
wherever space allows there is the draAving of the heart, yoilotl, that 
isliterally,yol-yo-tl," having life ", so familiar in Mexican paintings. 
Hence, it is clear that living beings, the human souls actually present 
in the city, are being counted here. If we sum up, beginning on 
the right side at the bottom, we have the following numbers for the 
main body of the town : 96, 86, 148, 79, 158, 155, or a total of 722 per- 
sons. In the upper of the two separate quarters of the town the 
number is incomplete on the right side, the twenties being destroyed. 
On the other two sides, beginning below on the left, we have the 
figures 86 and 48; total, 134 persons. For the lower of the two 
separate quarters, on the right, left, and lower sides Ave have 84, 95, 
and 50; total, 229 persons. If we increase the second sum to the 
amount of the third by way of supplementing it wath the missing 
numbers, the total would amount to slightly less than 1,200. Are we 
to suppose that this was the amount of the entire population of Tez- 
cuco? I think not. The population had indeed greatly dimin- 
ished after the conquest. ^'\n[iile formerly, says Ixtlilxochitl, the 
smallest village in the district of Tezcuco had 1,100 heads of house- 
holds or more, as is proved by the ancient doomsday books and lists 
of inhabilants, they now numbered scarcely 200, and some families 
had died out entirely. I do not think, however, that at the time to 
which we must attribute this page the number of inhabitants in the 
capital could have dwindled to 1,200. This very passage quoted from 
Ixtlilxochitl proves beyond a doubt that our fragment (plate xi) does 
not contain an enumeration of individuals, but only of heads of house- 
holds (vecinos). Therefore, for the period in which our fragment 
was written, we ought to have a population of about 7,000, which is 
probably in accordance with the true condition of things. 

I would further remark that the special arrangement of the num- 
bers in this plan of the city probably owes its origin to the distribu- 
tion of the inhabitants into quarters, or gentes (barrio, calpulli). 
Each separate tally probably corresponds to a separate calpulli, 
of which we must suppose that there- were six in the main body of the 
town and three in each of the tAvo detached quarters. 

Around the plan of the toAvn are seA^en sitting figures, six Span- 
iards and one Mexican. A. von Humboldt already correctly under- 
stood and has admirably characterized the general meaning of the 
proceeding which is thus represented. He errs only in regarding the 



SELEE] MEXICAN PICTURE WRITINGS FRAGMENT VI 193 

plan of the city in the middle of the picture, which, as we have seen, 
is that of the city of Tezcnco, as the ground plan of an ordinary estate 
and as the object in dispute. He says in Vue des Cordilleres et Monu- 
ments des peuples indigenes d'Amerique, page 56: Le tableau qui 
presente la douzieme Planche parait indiquer un proces entre cles 
naturels et des Espagnols. L'objet en litige est une metaine, dont 
on voit le dessin en projection orthographique. On y reconnoit le 
grand chemin marque par les traces des pieds ; des maisons dessinees 
en profil; un Indien dont le nom indique un arc; et des juges espa- 
gnoles assis sur des chaises, et ayant les lois devant leurs yeux. L'Es- 
pagnol place immediatement au-dessus de I'lndien, s'appelle pro- 
bablement Aquaverde, car I'hieroglyphe de I'eau, peint en verd, se 
trouve figure derriere sa tete. Les langues sont tres inegalement 
reparties dans ce tableau. Tout y annonce I'etat d'un pays conquis; 
I'indigene ose a peine defendre sa cause, tandis que les etrangers a 
longues barbes y parlent beaucoup et a haut voix, comme descendans 
d'un peuple conquerant ("The picture seen in the twelfth plate 
seems to indicate a law suit between the natives and the Spanish. 
The object of the dispute is a farm, a plan of which we see. We see 
the high road marked out by footprints, houses drawn in profile, an 
Indian whose name means a bow, and the Spanish judges seated on 
chairs, with the laws before them. The Spaniard immediately above 
the Indian is probably named Aquaverde, for the hieroglyph for 
water, painted green, figures behind his head. The tongues are very 
unequally distributed in this picture. Everything declares it to be a 
conquered country. The native hardly ventures to plead his cause, 
while the long-bearded strangers talk much and in loud voices, like 
descendants of a conquering race "). 

The three figures on the left side of the page are undoubtedly three 
judges, in fact the president of the audiencia and the two oydores. 
We must thus explain the relation in which the three stand to one 
another, for the judge in the middle is distinguished from the other 
two by a richer cap. The illustration as a whole corresponds per- 
fectly with the manner in which the oydores are represented in the 
Pintura del Gobernador, Alcaldes y Regidores de Mexico (Osuna 
codex). The chair and the stafi^ are their badges of office (see (/, A, /, 
figure 43, the picture of Doctor Horozco, oydor, from page 3 [465] 
of the above-mentioned manuscript) . The papers lying before them 
are probably not meant for the statute books, but for the written rec- 
ords of the suit. It is worthy of note that there are absolutely unin- 
telligible characters on these papers. They represent the confused 
impression of writing made on one who can not read. The two men 
sitting beside the Mexican are his vouchers, the witnesses summoned 
7238— No. 28—05 13 



194 BUEEAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

by him. The Spaniard on the opposite (the upper) side of the 
fragment, who turns his head away and answers at great length, is 
evidently the defendant, who denies the accusation brought against 
him. There were hieroglyphs behind all these persons, except the 
second witness. Unfortunately those behind two of the judges are 
destroj^ed. 

One of the persons can be identified beyond a doubt by these hiero- 
glyphs. This is the Mexican. Behind him is the figure of a bow 
(tlauitoUi) as his name hieroglyph. It is apparent that he occupied 
a high position among the natives, that he must have been of royal 
rank, for he is represented sitting on the tepotzoicpalli, the straw 
chair with a high back. Now, we actually know, that in the middle 
of the sixteenth century men by the name of Tlauitol, descendants of 
the old Tezcucan royal family, ruled in Tezcuco. Chimalpahin 
mentions one, San Antonio Pimentel Tlauitoltzin, whom he cal]s the 
son of King Nezahualpilli, who died in 1515— Torquemada describes 
him as the grandson of Nezahualpilli — who was installed as king 
(tlahtouani) of Tezcuco-Aculhuacan in the year 1540 by the Span- 
iards, and died in 1564 after reigning twenty-five years. This state- 
ment is unquestionably based on an error. In the Sahagun manu- 
script, which was written in the year 2 Acatl, that is, 1559, Don An- 
tonio Tlauitoltzin is mentioned as the twelfth king of Tezcuco, the 
seventh after Nezahualpilli, and it is stated that he reigned six years. 
And after that Don Hernando Pimentel is mentioned as the thirteenth 
king of Tezcuco, his Mexican name being luian, that is, " the mild ", 
" the modest ", a word which is reproduced in the name hieroglyph 
accompanying the picture of this king by two bare feet, perhaps ex- 
pressing " chi va piano, va sano ". The latter at the time that this 
was written (in the year 2 Acatl, or A. D. 1559) must already have 
reigned fifteen years, and therefore have come to the throne in 1545. 
The six years during which Don Antonio Pimentel Tlauitoltzin was 
said to have reigned must have been the years 1540-1545. Chimal- 
pahin has evidently merged the periods of rule of these two men 
into one. 

Of Don Antonio Pimentel Tlauitoltzin we know from Torquemada, 
who mentions him in various places, that he was a quiet, sensible man, 
who devoted himself with special interest to collecting and writing- 
down the ancient traditions of his family and his race. Torquemada 
possessed a " Memorial " written by him, in which he gives an 
account « of ancient things, en estilo de historia, al modo que usamos 
nosotros ("in historic style, in the manner which we use"). Juan 
Bautista de Pomar says of him, that he cultivated mulberry trees 
and bred silkworms, that in his (Pomar's) time, that is, in the year 
1582, there w^ere still mulberry trees in the vicinity of Tezcuco, y en 

o Mpnarquia Indiana, v. 16, chap. 19. 



SELER] MEXICAN PICTURE WRITINGS FRAGMENT VI 195 

tiempo antigiio la cogia (la seda) Don Antonio Tlauitoltzin cacique 
J gobernaclor que fue de esta ciudad, hijo de Nezahualpiltzintli (" and 
in ancient times Don Antonio Tlauitoltzin, who was cacique and 
governor of that city, son of Nezahualpiltzintli, gathered it (the 
silk)"). 

It is not so easy to determine the other persons on our fragment. 
Since Tlauitoltzin only reigned until the year 1545, the event to 
wliich our fragment refers must have occurred before that date. At 
that time the viceroy, Don Antonio de Mendoza, was still reigning— 
from the year 1531. The bishop of Santo Domingo, Don Sebastian 
Eamirez de Fuenleal, was president of the audiencia until 1535. 
His oydores were the licenciados Juan de Salmeron, Alonzo Maldo- 
nado, Zeynos (or Zaynos, as it is also written), afterwards president 
of the audiencia, and Quiroga.« The names of Spaniards were fre- 
quently reproduced by the Mexicans in hieroglyphs, which are 
often perfectly intelligible, but often too very hard to understand 
and, without doubt, frequently do not represent the name itself, but 
a nickname by which the person in question was known among the 
Indians. It is well known that Pedro de Alvarado went by the name 
Tonatiuh, " sun ", among the Indians. He is therefore hieroglyph- 
ically designated by a picture of the sun. The viceroy Antonio de 
Mendoza is designated in Codex Telleriano-Eemensis by a spear, k, 
figure 43; the third viceroy, Luis de Velasco, in the Pintura del 
Gobernador, Alcaldes y Regidores de Mexico (Osuna codex), by I, 
which is composed of the tongue of eloquence, an eye, and, above it,' 
another object, difficult to explain. The name Gallego is expressed 
in the same manuscript by m, and that of Doctor Vasco de Poga by n. 
Both are easily understood. In m we have the figures of a house 
(cal-li) and of beans (e-tl), or Cal-e; and n is explained bv the fact 
that poc-tli in Mexican means " smoke ". The hieroglyph for Doctor 
Zorita, r, the head of a quail, is also perfectly obvious, because gol-in 
is the Mexican word for quail. But o for Doctor Villanueva, and p 
for Doctor ViUalobos still puzzle me; so does q for Doctor Bravo 
The hieroglyph, s, for Doctor Zeynos seems to represent the prickly 
point of a leaf, and t, the hieroglyph for the fiscal Maldonado, is 
the picture of a pair of wooden tongs and a red (red-hot?) object 
which IS held in their grasp. Lastly, the hieroglyph for Doctor 
Horozco, 7i, is most strikingly like that of San Francisco, i. 

Most of the hieroglyphs which I have mentioned here belong to 
persons of a later time than that to which our fragment VI (plate xi) 
belongs. Unfortunately, but few hieroglyphs of Spanish names of 
this earher period are positively known to us, and they are not to be 
interpreted at haphazard, as can readily be seen from the examples 
]ust given. 



" Motolinia, v. 3, chap. 3. 



196 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY Fbdll. 28 

It still remains to discuss the pictures on our page (plate xi) , which 
are on the left of the plan of the city, directly in front of the presid- 
ing magistrate. Two of them, the two circles, painted bluish green 
in the original and filled in with irregular squares, are perfectly 
clear. They represent turquoise mosaic and have the phonetic value 
of Xiutl, that is, " year " (see page 160) . We must conclude that the 
occurrence which is treated of here took place two years before, or 
else that the trial lasted two years. The other object is not so easily 
interpreted. It looks like a bag or a bottle-shaped vessel. A stick 
or pipe is apparently joined to it above, and a fine thread seems also 
to be fastened to it. The inside is entirely filled with wavy red lines. 
Although various suggestions occur to me, I do not venture to express 
a definite opinion in regard to the meaning of this object. 

Fragment VI (plate xi) seems to have belonged to Boturini's col- 
lection and to be described by him in his Museo Indiano, number T, 
section 3. He says there : « Otro mapa en una quartilla de papel 
Indiano, donde se ve pintada la ciudad de Tetzcoco, con unas cifras, 
que especifican su extension en lo antiguo ("Another map of a quarter 
sheet of Indian paper, where we see the city of Tezcuco, painted with 
figures, which specify its size in old times"). Our page, too, is a 
map in quarto (im mapa en una quartilla de papel Indiano), and has 
a picture of the city of Tetzcoco, and numerals are inscribed upon it, 
as we have seen, only they do not indicate the size of the city, as 
Boturini here supposes, but the ninnber of its inhabitants. 

FEAGMENT VII 

This (plate xii) is a strip of agave paper, 25 cm. long and about 
18 cm. wide, with four rows of writing beginning below at the right, 
a fifth row being only indicated. 

On the right side of the divisions are circles. One of them, that in 
the fourth row from the bottom is painted red and contains a ver- 
ticillate design, a kind of two-armed swastika. This undoubtedly 
means a Sunday. In accordance Avith this the circles at the right 
end of the lower divisions must likewise mean days, and since the 
progression is upward Ave should have Thursday in the lowest divi- 
sion, Friday in the second, and Saturday in the third from the bot- 
tom. In accordance with this, Friday Avould be characterized by the 
circle, the upper half of which is painted black. This would be 
comprehensible. It was the day of Christ's crucifixion and a fast 
day commanded by the church. Thursday and Saturday Avould be 
alike designated, to wit, by a circle Avith a kind of arrow on it. I 
think that this was only a hieroglyph for a working or Aveek day. 



<" riace cited, p. 5. 



5UREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



BULLETIN 28 PLATE XII 




O P Q (o) 

liiij Ppj-iHi arifi^JnliuM,, '-0/7/ ill (Vf 



4 






\. 



MEXICAN PAINTING-HUMBOLDT FRAGMENT VII 



seler] 



MEXICAN PICTURE WRITINGS FRAGMENT VII 



197 



Inside in the lowest row, between fishes, were baskets woven of straw 
(painted yellow), apparently of pliable material, each of which in 
this lowest row rests on a fiat disk having three feet. These are 
apparently the little baskets in which hot tortillas were brought. 
Last, on the left, follow bundles, apparently meant to represent 








/ 










'7i 





o 



\3 





q r s 

Fig. 44. Mexican symljols of various objects. 

zacatl, " green cornstalks ", which have been used in preference for 
horse fodder from the time of the conquest to the present day (see a, 
1 and 2, figure 44, the former taken from the Goupil-Boban atlas, 
plate 27, the latter from the Pintura del Gobernador, Alcaldes y 
Ilegidores de Mexico, and both described in the text as Zacatl). 



198 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

In the topmost row (on Sunday) there is a turkey, the Sunday roast, 
instead of the fishes. For the better understanding of the somewhat 
crude drawing I have reproduced in 5, figure M, the rather more 
carefully drawn head from the Goupil-Boban atlas, plate 27, which 
is there expressly mentioned in the text as " gallina de la tierra ". 

Above these objects, which represent food for man and beast, are 
various figures: Small flags which designate the numeral 20 and 
groups of small circles, each of which means 1, and also larger circles, 
which are either empty or contain one or two small circles (plate xii). 

These large circles, which in the more carefully drawn manuscripts 
are always painted blue, signify money, silver coin, and in respect 
to this there is indeed an unvarying style of designation observable. 
The old Spanish coin was the peso, which was divisible into 8 reals, 
known in Mexican as tomin. Half a real was a medio, and half of 
that a quartillo. The Indians divided the latter once more. For this 
smallest fractional coin there is no Spanish name, only the Mexican 
tlaco, " half ". The peso was sometimes represented in Mexican paint- 
ings by the scale pan of a balance, answering to its name, " weight ", 
(c, figure 44), but usually by a blue circle with a cross on it, d, 
apparently from the stamp which at that time was impressed upon 
silver money. It is very rarely that any other stamp occurs (see, for 
instance, e, from the Osuna codex, pages 30 [492] and 31^ [493]). 
Reals, or tomines, were designated by a blue circle, containing as 
many small circles as there were reals to be represented. Usually 
not more than four small circles were inscribed within one circle, that 
is, 4 reals, equal to half a peso. Only, when the pesos were not 
specially mentioned, but, as often happened, and in spite of the new 
dollar and centavo system still often happens, the sum was reckoned 
in reals, then we find within the blue circle as many as eight small cir- 
cles (see/). The medio, on the contrary, was designated by a real 
cut in halves (see d). Thus c (Osuna codex) is explained in the 
text as 1 peso ypan 6 tomines, 1 peso and G reals ; and d, taken from 
the same manuscript, as ompohualli pesos ypan 7 tomines ypan 
medio, that is, twice 20 pesos, 7 reals, and 1 medio. 

In our fragment VII (plate xii) the price of the turkey (quaxolotl, 
guajolote) in the top row has the highest number of figures: for it is 
marked 2 reals. All the rest are marked 1 real. For this reason the 
large circles seem to be used here very often alone, without the small 
inner circles. According to the prices noted here, 2 bundles or loads 
of zacate, 20 tortillas, and 8 fishes were sold, respectively, for 1 real. 
The fishes can not, therefore, have been of any great size. 

Since, therefore, we find days set down on our fragment VII, and 
Avithin the days provisions and fodder with their ])rices, it is clear that 
this fragment must be a bill. This is proved by the writing which I 



SBLER] MEXICAN PICTURE WRITINGS FRAGMENT VII 199 

had the pleasure of discovering on the reverse of the paper after 
having separated the leaf from its backing. These words are written 
there : 

Resebi yo miciiel mayordomo de la comunidad deste pueblo de 
misquiaguala del sehor manuel de olvera dos pesos q. monto en comida 
desta pintura en quatro de fevrero de mill y q^ y setenta y un ahos. 

MiGTJEI; DE SaNC Ju°. 

ante mi 
Juan de p . 

(" I, Miguel, major-domo of the community of this village of Miz- 
quiyauallan, received from Seilor Manuel de Olvera 2 pesos, the price 
of the provisions, which are here depicted, on February 4, 1571. 

Miguel de S. Juan. 

Before me, 

Juan de p .") 

(I can not wholly decipher this signature.) 

The village of Mizquiyauallan lies in the district of Actopan of 
the state of Hidalgo. The name means " where the mesquite trees 
(algaroba, Prosopis juliflora) stand in a circle ". It is therefore rep- 
resented hieroglyphically by a mesquite tree bent in the shape of the 
bow (see g^ figure 44), but occasionally merely by a mesquite tree, 
or a mountain with a mesquite tree upon it, li. The place was in 
the Otomi territory and was early subject to the Mexican kings. 
On the tribute list it is in the group Axocopan between the towns 
of Tezcatepec and Itzmiquilpan. In the Pintura del Gobernador, 
Alcaldes y Regidores de Mexico (Osuna codex), it is mentioned with 
these and other places in the same region, but Mizquiyauallan was 
subject to double authority, for it was a domain of the crown and had 
an encomendro besides (see A., taken from the manuscript just 
named, where this double relation is expressed h^ the croAvn over 
the hieroglyph and the head of a Spaniard beside it). The major- 
domo who signed the receipt quoted above was no doubt responsible 
to the crown. 

As for the persons themselves, I can not decipher the name of the 
official in whose presence the act was executed. In a and 5, figure 47, 
I have reproduced the signatures of the witness and the receipting 
major-domo from tracings which I made. We shall later meet again 
with the Manuel de Olvera mentioned in the text. The major-domo 
was undoubtedly an Indian. Family names like this, borrowed from 
a saint (or a diocese?), are often encountered in the lists of names of 
persons. 

I would draw attention to the fact that the sum of 2 pesos, 
mentioned in the receipt, is the actual amount obtained if we add the 



200 BUEEAU OF AMEKICAN ETHNOLOGY [boll. 28 

reals marked on fragment VII (plate xii). In the lowest row there 
are 5, in the second 3, in the third 5, and in the fourth again 3 ; in all, 
16 reals or 2 pesos. 

I shall show later that another page of our collection, fragment 
VIII (plate XIII ) can be proved to have come from the same village. 
This latter fragment, as I shall show later on, is most closely related 
to one of the manuscripts which passed from the collection of the 
Hon Joel E. Poinsett, former minister to Mexico from the United 
States, into the possession of the American Philosophical Society in 
Philadelphia, and was published in the Transactions of that society 
(new series, volume 12, 1892, article 4). It is interesting to note that 
our fragment VII (plate xii) should also find its exact parallel in a 
piece in that collection. The latter is designated by the editors as 
Tribute Roll (Calendar 2). Here, too, the page is divided by hori- 
zontal lines into a series of consecutive divisions. On the right is a 
day, invariably designated by a di^k, Sunday by a red disk with a, 
three-armed verticillate design (^, figure 44). Then follow various 
articles of food, with their prices; but the bill of fare is somewhat 
enlarged. Besides turkey, painted red {k^ same figure), fish (Z), a 
little basket of tortillas {n)-. and bundles of zacate (s), we have in p 
still another cheap article of food, of which eighty are marked at 
1 real, but to which I can not at present give a name; in q we 
apparently have baskets of tamales (a kind of dumpling Avith a filling, 
which was steamed in a wrapper of corn husks) , eight of which were 
sold for 3 reals; in m, some articles of food painted red, possil^ly 
chile con carne, four of which cost 1 real; in r, a fanega of Indian 
corn for 3 reals (see j) and q^ figure 46) ; and in c», an article of diet 
with which I am unacquainted, which was sold for 2 reals. Finally, 
in two squares there are figures of Spaniards {t, figure 44). It seems 
highly i^robable that this page belongs to the same date and same 
region as our fragment VII (plate xii). It is very probable that our 
fragment VII (plate xii) likewise once belonged to the Boturini 
collection. The catalogue of Boturini's Museo Indiano mentions 
under number 1, section 21 : Tres mapas en papol Indiano como faxas. 
Tratan de los tributos que pagaba el pueblo de Mizquiahuallan, y en 
el se ven las cifras numericas de cada cosa que entregaban los vecinos 
(" Three maps on Indian paper like strips of ribbon. They treat of 
the tribute paid by the village of Mizquiahuallan, and in them are the 
numerical figures of everything Avhich householders furnished "). 

FRAGMENT VIII 

This is a strip of agave paper, 33 cm. long, 22 cm. Avide, much 
injured at the edges and in the middle by folding, and imperfect at the 
upper left corner (plate xiii). On the upper side of the fragment 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



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SELER] MEXICAN PICTURE WRITINGS- — FRAGMENT VIII 201 

there are drawings, done Avith a fine pen, most of wliich are touched 
up with colors. On the left side are heads of men. Behind each is a 
hierogh'ph, which gives the name of the man in question, and in front 
of each is the wooden implement used for field work, known as uictli, 
or couauacatl (see t and u, figure 37). These persons are thus marked 
as husbandmen. Before each person is a row of fields with quad- 
rangular boundaries, on the sides of which are numbers similar to 
those which we encountered on fragment VI (plate xi). The num- 
bers on the opposite sides of the fields, as far as can be determined, 
are alike, except in some minute particulars. This shows that these 
were meant for pieces of arable land with quadrangidar boundaries. 
There are hieroglyphs on the upper boundary and on the surface of 
the fields which are repeated in the different rows. In some of the 
fields, in the lower right-hand corner, there is also a representa- 
tion of grass (zacatl), painted yellow (see a, figure 36), and on the 
last field of the first row, in the upper right-hand corner, is the picture 
of a house (calli), and also in the first and second field in the third 
row. Finally, the name of the respective j^erson is written with a 
coarse pen beside each head. From the character of the drawing and 
the structure of the hieroglyphs this fragment (plate xiii) resembles 
most closely the so-called Vergara codex. That is a manuscript 
mentioned by Boturini in his Museo Indiano, now in the Aubin- 
Goupil collection, consisting (originally) of 56 pages, which gives 
the statistics of the villages of Calcantlaxiuhcan, Topotitlan, Patla- 
chiuhcan, Teocaltitlan, and Texcalticpac. The heads of families and 
their descendants are set clown first, then lists of the persons in each 
village (tlacatlacuilolli) ,the lands claimed by individuals (milcocolli) , 
and of what was allotted to individuals at the time of the adjustment 
(tlauelmantli). On the first (originally the second) page the remark 
" 1539, marques del valle virey " has been added evidently later, by 
another hand. But this note has probably as little value as those 
added on pages 21 and 22, where a certain Don Augustin cle Rosas 
asserts his claim to the estates of Tzilaquauhtepoztlanallan. At the 
end stands the name Pedro Vasquez cle Vergara, possibly the name of 
some one who had the manuscript in his possession. The manuscript 
has usually been cited under his name since Aubin's time. 

On those pages of that manuscript which treat of the distribution 
of lands the heads of persons, with their names and hieroglyj^hs, are 
depicted in exactly the same way as on our fragment VIII (plate 
xiii) , and beside them, in rows, are the fields, those claimed by them 
or those which were assigned to them (Goupil-Boban atlas, plate 39. 
See «, 6,and c, figure 45, which are taken therefrom). In the Vergara 
codex the numbers Avhich give the dimensions are placed on only one 
of the long, vertical, and on one of the short, horizontal, sides of the 
fields, and there are hieroglyphs only in the middle of the fields, but 



202 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



[BULL. 28 



not, as on our fragment VIII (plate xm), on the upper boundary as 
well. 

There is still another document on the left side of which persons are 
depicted and, opposite them, the fields belonging to them, in the same 
way as in our fragment. This is page 34 of the Goupil-Boban atlas. 
Here, too, as in the Vergara codex, the dimensional figures are on only 
two sides of the square. But, as in our fragment (plate xiii), hiero- 
glyphs are drawn on the upper boundary of the fields, or beside it, 
and there are additional designations which make it evident that these 
hieroglyphs represent the name of the field or piece of arable land. 




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Pig. 45. Mexican glyphs denoting various obiects. 

Moreover, the word chinamitl, " inclosed field ", or milli, " arable 
land", is often quite superfluously written beside them (see d, e, /, 
figure 45). 

Comparison with these manuscripts, I think, leaves no room for 
doubt as to the general meaning of our fragment VIII (plate xiii) . I 
will now resume the discussion of its separate features. 

The dimensional numbers, which are written on four sides of the 
fields, are, as I have already said, the same on the two opposite sides. 
Their construction and characteristic features are exactly the same 
as those which we have already seen in the plan of the city of Tez- 
cuco on fragment VI (plate xi) of our collection. There, as here, 



SELEE] MEXICAN PICTURE WRITINGS FRAGMENT VIII 203 

twenties are denoted by black dots, ones by lines; groups of five ones 
are connected by a line ; and where there are more than five twenties 
the first five are also connected by a line to form the number 100. We 
have the same system of notation in the Vergara codex, a to c, and on 
page 34 of the Goupil-Boban atlas, d to /, except that here the twen- 
ties are usually denoted by a black dot and a little flag, the four hun- 
dreds by a black dot and a sign resembling a pinnated leaf, which is 
the symbol for tzontli, " four hundred " (literally, " hair "). But on 
this page, too, twenties are denoted simply by black dots, g and h. On 
fragment VI of our collection the souls were counted. Therefore we 
saw, preceding the numbers, the picture of a heart (yollotli), expres- 
sive of the conception " life " (yol) or " soul ". On fragment VIII 
(plate xiii) we should expect to find, preceding the figures, the picture 
of some unit of measure. And this is actually the case. We find, pre- 
ceding the numbers, the picture of a hand. This is in the first, sec- 
ond, and fifth fields of the third row. But in other fields, preceding 
the numbers, we find a picture resembling an arrowhead. This 
occurs in the fourth field of the upper row (the front of which is 
incomplete), in the last field in the second row, in the fifth field in 
the third row, and in the first and second fields of the fourth row. I 
have interpreted this picture, from its appearance, to be an arrow- 
head. That it is actually intended for one is, in my opinion, fully 
proved by the fact that in the first field of the fourth row the arrow- 
head, which we see on the upper side, is replaced on the lower side by 
the hieroglyph tecpatl, " flint ", that is, by the material from which 
arrowheads were made. 

We also find the hand as a unit of length on page 34 of the Goupil- 
Boban atlas, where the dimensions of the estate or village of Tzom- 
pantitlan are given (see g, figure 45) .« The hand as a unit of measure 
is readily understood. For ma-itl means not only the hand, but also 
the arm, the forearm, including the hand. The use of the hand, there- 
fore, might denote either an arm's length or an ell. In fact, Molina's 
vocabulary gives cem-matl( literally defines, " an arm ")by " una braca 
para medir ", that is, an ell. I have not found the arrow elsewhere as 
a unit of length. But that it was actually used as such is again proved 
by Molina's vocabulary, where we find cem-mitl, " an arrow ", trans- 
lated by " medida desde el un codo hasta la otra mano ", that is, the 
measure from one elbow to the tip of the other hand, a somewhat 
longer measure, therefore, than the former, equal to about 2 ells. 
I think it possible, however, that the two symbols, the hand and the 
arrow, both refer to one and the same customary unit employed to 
measure distance. 



« Let me draw attertion, in passing, to the interesting form wtiieli tliis liierolglyph has 
here. The element tzompan is usually expressed hy the wooden framework tzompantii, 
upon which the heads of the sacrificed victims were exhibited. But here it is expressed 
by the tree tzompanquauitl (Brythrina corallodendron). 



204 BUREAU OF AMEEICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

As for the hieroglyphs, those on the upper side of the fiekls 
undoubtedly stand for the names of the boundaries of the land. 
They are repeated in tlie separate rows of fields belonging to one 
owner, because they do not denote the individual field, but the domain 
within which it lies. In exactly the same way, on page 34 of the 
Gouj)il-Boban atlas, the same names of domains recur above and 
beside the fields which are set down in rows after the various owners. 
In our fragment eight different domains seem to be given. 

The first one is the same in all the rows (plate xiii) and is desig- 
nated by the picture of a house above the field. The house in the 
fourth row is drawn with a high, pointed, straw roof (painted yel- 
low), that is, like the xacalli, which we saw in fragment II (plate 
VII ) . The others are apparently meant to represent the adobe houses 
with flat roofs of beams, known as tlapechcalli (see i, figure 45, taken 
from page 34 of the Goiipil-Boban atlas) . The layer of beams form- 
ing the roof is marked here by red paint, like doorposts and the frames 
of doors, which were always made of wood** and were therefore always 
painted red or brown. 

The second field in the third row (which is the most perfect) has 
a hieroglyph at the top which represents the head of a coyote between 
two streams of water. This domain may, therefore, have been called 
Coyoapan. The name of this domain is set down over the last field 
in the first row. 

The third field in the third row has no hieroglyph at the top. 
Perhaps the same one should be here which is over the fourth field 
in the second row and over the second field in the fourth row, and 
also over the third field in the row to the right of the fragment (plate 
xiii). It consists of a flag and two rows of teeth. The name of the 
domain may have been Pantlan or Pancamac. Over the second field 
in the fourth row there is a stream of water in addition to the flag. 

The hieroglyph over the fourth field in the third row is somewhat 
effaced; but I think that it is meant for the same hieroglyph that 
is over the fourth field in the first row, and over the third field in the 
second row, which consists of the picture of a haijd and a stream of 
water. The same hieroglyph probably occurred also over the third 
field in the fourth row. In its jDlace there is a hole in the page, and 
the edge of the i^aper is somewhat turned down; but the stream of 
water belonging to this fourth hieroglyph is still plainly discernible 
under the turned-down edge. 

The fifth field in the third row has above it a hieroglyph, which 
occurs nowhere else in what is preserved of the other rows. It con- 
sists of a fruit tree, a small flag, and a stream of water. 

The hieroglyph over the sixth field in the third row consists of the 
symbol zaca-tl, ''grass" (painted yellow), and a stream of water. 

" See J. Bautista Pomar, Relacion de Tetzcoeo, manuscript. 



SELER] MEXICAN PICTURE WRITINGS FRAGMENT VIII 205 

It is evidently the same hierogl}^:)!! as that over the fourth field in 
the fourth row, which, in addition to the grass and water, has also a 
set of teeth (tlan-tli, " tooth ") and a small flag- (pan-tli). 

The seventh hieroglyph occurs in all four rows. It is over the 
sixth field in the first, the fifth field in the second, the seventh field in 
the third, and the sixth field in the fourth row. It consists of a 
green bush and a stream of water. 

The eighth hierogiyj^h likcAvise occurs in all of the four rows: in 
the seventh field of the first, the sixth field of the second, the eighth 
of the third, and the fifth field of the fourth row. It is the picture 
of a bird. 

Another separate domain may possibly be designated over the sec- 
ond field of the row on the unfinished right side. A small flag is 
recognizable. Whatever else may have been there is now obliterated. 
We see, then, that tlie hieroglyphs over the fields, which, it seems tol- 
erably certain, represent the names of tlie domains, exhibit a consid- 
erable variety. We have been able to count eight or nine of them. 
Of the hieroglyphs on the surface of the fields, only three kinds can 
be distinguished, which, as Avill appear immediately, must have been 
intended to express various qualities of soil. 

The first presents the hieroglyph te-tl, " stone ", and a series of fine 
dots proceeding from it, undoubtedly indicating sand (xalli). (See 
/i', figure 45, xalpan mjlli, that is, the arable field, xalpan, " in the 
sand "; Goupil-Boban atlas, page 34.) This hieroglyph, then, would 
denote stony, sandy soil, which the Mexicans called tetlalli xallalli. 

The second hieroglyph which we see, for instance, in the second 
field of the third row, shows the picture of a maize plant (toctli), 
with the tassel (painted yellow) at the top and the ear (painted red) 
having long drooping bunches of silk lower down at the left of the 
stalk. Beside it, on the right, is a stream of water (a-tl) and below it 
a row of teeth (tlan-tli). These three elements together give the 
word atoctlan, that is, "rich in a-toctli (fertile vegetable mold)." 
Compare Sahagun, volume 2, chapter 12, section 3 : A la tierra fertil 
para sembrar, y doncle se hace mucho lo que se siembra en ella, llaman 
a-toctli, que quiere decir, tierra que el agua ha traido: es blanca, 
suelta, hueca y suave; es tierra donde se hace mucho maiz 6 trigo 
(" earth fertile to sow seed in, and where that which is sowed increases 
greatly, they call a-toctli, which is to say, earth which the water has 
brought: it is light, loose, rich, and smooth; it is earth which pro- 
duces much corn or wheat ") . It is, however, possible that the row of 
teeth here is not meant to express the whole syllable " tlan ", but only 
"tla", in Avhich case it might stand for tlalli, "earth", so that we 
should have atoc-tlalli. This seems to me probable on account of 
what follows. 



206 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

The third hieroglj^ph, which occurs, for instance, in the fifth 
field of the third row, shows at the top a tree (quau-itl), below it a 
jug (com-itl), and below that the row of teeth (tlan-tli) ; these ele- 
ments give us the word quauh-con-tlan, or quauh-con-tlalli, and the 
latter may perhaps be resolved into quauhtlalli, contlalli. Quauh- 
tlalli is wood soil. Sahagun says, volume 2, chapter 12, section 3 : Hay 
otra manera de tierra fertil, donde se hace muy bien el maiz y trigo, 
llamanla quauhtlalli, que quiere decir, tierra que esta estercolada con 
maderos podridos, es suelta, amarilla, y hueca ("there is another 
sort of fertile soil, in which corn and wheat flourish very well, they 
call it quauhtlalli, wdiich is to say, earth which has been manured with 
rotten wood, it is soft, rich, and golden"). And contlalli is clay. 
Sahagun says, volume 2, chapter 12, section 5 : Hay barro en esta tierra 
para hacer loza y basijas, es muy bueno y muy pegajoso; amasanla 
con aquellos pelos de los tallos de las espadahas, y llamase texoquitl y 
contlalli: de este barro se hacen comales, escudillas, platos, y toda 
manera de loza (" there is clay in this earth for making tiles and 
pots, it is very good and very easily molded; they knead it with 
fibers of the shoots of- reed mace, and they call it texoquitl and con- 
tlalli : of this clay they make plates, bowls, dishes, and all manner of 
pottery ") . The same earth is described in the preceding section 3, as 
follows: Hay otra (tierra) pegajosa buena para hacer barro de 
paredes y suelos para los tlapancos; es fertil, pues se hace bien el 
niaiz y trigo (" there is another kind (of earth) good to mold so as to 
make clay for walls and floors for the tlapancos; it is fertile, since 
corn and wheat do Avell in if'). 

The three hieroglyphs in the center of the fields would there- 
fore denote sandy or stony soil, vegetable mold, and clayey soil. It is 
to be noted that the hieroglyphs on the upper side of the fields and 
those in the middle of the fields always have a certain regular relation 
to each other, that is, the various domains show a distinct qual- 
ity of soil. Thus domain 1 has sandy soil : 2 has vegetable mold ; 3 
has sandy soil ; in 4 vegetable mold is given in three cases, but in the 
third field of the fourth row, if it belongs to this domain, is a clayey 
soil; domain 5 has clayey soil; domain 6, likewise partly vegetable 
mold, partly clay; domain 7 has vegetable mold throughout; domain 
8, nothing but clayey soil. 

On the last page of the Vergara codex, the third of those pages of 
that manuscript Avhich are reproduced in the Goupil-Boban atlas 
(plate 39) , the quality of the soil in the fields is likewise stated, and it 
seems in every case to be partly stoney and partly sandy soil (see a, h, 
and (?, figure 45). 

Before every row of fields on our fragment (plate xiii), and also on 
page 34 of the Goupil-Boljan atlas and in the Yergara codex, there is 
a drawing of the person who is declared to be the owner of the fields 



SELEK] MEXICAN PICTURE WRITINGS FRAGMENT VIII 207 

in question. These persons, as I have said, are designated plainly, 
not only by a hieroglyph, but also by the name written beside it. 
Here, therefore, it is easy to decipher the hieroglyphs. But it should 
be noticed that, as a matter of course, the Spanish name is not taken 
into account. Moreover, we must omit some letters, which stand after 
the names and are probably an abbreviation of a Nauatl word. After 
the names of the persons in the second and third row we read the 
syllables omo ; after those of the person in the fourth row and of the 
one on the right of the fragment, the syllables aja,". I am inclined to 
regard the latter as an abbreviation of ayamo, " not yet ", and, accord- 
ingly, the former must be an abbreviation of omotlali, " he was 
installed ", " he has been confirmed ", or something similar. 

The hieroglyphs are of complex structure, and the pictures em- 
ployed, like those in the Vergara codex, are not always used according 
to the full value of their syllables, so that there is presented a phase 
of transition from the old symbolic and syllabic mode of writing to a 
kind of phonetic writing. 

The first person, the one in the second row, according to the explan- 
atory note, bears the name Damian xotlanj. The hieroglyph is com- 
posed of some flowers, two rows of teeth, and the figure of a sitting 
man. The flowers (xoch-tli) give the syllable xo ; the teeth (tlantli), 
the syllable tlan. The seated man I take to mean omotlalli, " he was 
installed '\ into which, as I said, the omo after the name xotlani 
should be expanded. 

The second person, the one in the third row, bears the name Luys 
Netlacahujl. The hierogtyph shows us a doll, a row of teeth, a basket 
of tamales (filled dumplings made of Indian corn), and a utensil like 
a skillet. Beside it is the same seated figure. The doll (nenetl) 
gives the syllable ne; the teeth (tlan-tli), the . syllable tla. The 
tamales and the skillet, which is doubtless supposed to be filled with 
chili, or red pepper, sauce give the syllable cauil. Nino tlacauilia 
(derived from caua, " to stay behind ") means " I keep something for 
myself ", or " I am taking a meal "; netlacauiliztli, " the meal (meri- 
enda)". The person seated is again to be taken as an expression of 
omo, that is, omotlali, " he was installed ". 

The name of the person in the fourth row is Pedro Ylhuj. Tiie 
hieroglyph is a remarkably conventionalized repeated verticillate 
figure in bright colors, red and yellow with a blue diagonal part, and 
a yellow feather. Here the yellow feather probably denotes an ele- 
ment not expressed in the name as it is written. The man's name 
may really have been Ilhuitoz, for toztli is the yellow parrot feather 
(or one artificially dyed yellow). The front part consists of two 
squares, each of which shows two little tongues j)ut together after the 
manner of a swastika, or fylfot, which is undoubtedly meant, like h 



208 BUREAU OF AMEKICAN ETHNOLOGY. [boll. 28 

and i fi-ure 46, to express the ^™rd il-hm-tl, that is, " the sun's orb " 

"dnv' " festival ". I clreA. attention to this figure some years ago," 

but did not at that time interpret it correctly It occm. on Mex.can 

culp ures in the Berlin Koyal Museum of Ethnology ( , figure 45 on 

hilece opposite the picture of the ohalchiu.tl, the uminous, bnl- 

an beld o jadeite. This simple veiticillate symbol («, same fig- 

r a so occirs on the celestial shields in Maya manuscripts xn 

connection with all sorts of variants of the sun h.erag yph, o. 

The last person on the imperfect right Bide of the fragment i 
c...lled n the accompanying note, Antonio Totoli Pdhuehue. Totol 
-p me n "the yoing'turtey ", and this is expressed in the hiero- 





^=3r^ 




o P 

Fig. 46. Mexicau symbols for various articles. 



g. 



o-lyph by the picture of a bird with short wings, But I am not clear 
as to tlie other element below it or what syllable it is meant to express^ 
From all that we can make out and determine on fragment \Ili 
(plate xm) , it is perfectly obvious that it is very closely analogous, on 
the one hand, to our fragment VI (plate xi) and, on the other hand, 
t(, pa..-e ;U of the Goupil-Boban atlas and the so-called Vergara codex, 
llic most striking characteristic of all these manuscripts is the pecul- 
iar sxstcMu of notation— the ones being denoted by marks instead of 
dots aiul ahvi.vs coinl.iued iu groups of five— and also the complicated 



« Zeitschrift fur Etlmologie, 1S88, v. '20, pp. 53 and 55. 



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SELBR] MEXICAN PICTURE WHITINGS FRAGMENTS IX-XII 209 

composition of the hierogij^phs, which approximates syllabic and pho- 
netic writing. All the manuscripts of this kind seem to have origin- 
ated within the boimdaries of the ancient kingdom of Tezcuco, and it 
seems that this local element, rather than the time of their origin, 
ought to be taken into account in explaining these peculiar features, 
for the Pintura del Gobernador, Alcaldes y Regidores de Mexico 
(Osuna codex), which is later than our fragment VI (plate xi), 
counts with dots instead of marks. We knoAV that Tezcuco was 
anciently regarded as the seat of refined culture and of a certain kind 
of scholarship; but Tezcuco was also the first to adapt its native ele- 
ments, in a certain measure, to the customs and civilization of the 
foreign conqueror. As long, therefore, as the same peculiar features 
occur in the manuscripts quoted (Vergara codex and others) in 
genuine old pre-Spanish documents I shall still incline to attribute 
this development to the Spanish period. For this reason I can not 
consider these documents of the great importance which Aubin and 
others attach to them. 

FRAGMENTS IX, X, XI, AXD XII 

These four fragments are alike in character. Fragments IX (plate 
XIV ) and X (plate xv) evidently were once a single strip, as were also 
fragments XI (plate xvi) and XII (plate xvii). Fragments X 
(plate xv) and XII (plate xvii) have a line across the top, cut with a 
sharp instrument; in XII (plate xvii) the cut follows a line drawn 
across the fragment, parts of which are to be seen at the bottom of 
fragment XI (plate xvi). The strips are all of the same wddth, 
about IT cm. Fragments X and XI (plates xv and xvi) together are 
98 cm. in length, which is therefore the length of the whole strip 
originally. Fragments XI (plate xvi) and XII (plate xvii) together 
are 146|^ cm., the original length of the second strip. The first strip 
was once longer above. There are still faint traces of drawings 
there. The second strip seems to have been cut off sharply at the 
bottom ; moreover, one corner has been cut out with the scissors. It 
would seem, then, that this strip was also longer. The drawings are 
done in ink with a coarse pen, and decidedly resemble the illustrations 
on fragment XV (plate xx), and also someAvhat those of ecclesiastical 
subjects on fragment XVI (plate xxi). The colors used are crimson 
and yellow, while for the stone wall on fragment XII (plate xvii) a 
blackish ink has been employed. I'he circles and squares in the low- 
est division of fragment IX (plate xiv) are painted crimson. So, 
too, are the tubs which the three rows of Indians in the upper divi- 
sion of fragment XI (plate xvi) carry on their backs, the transverse 
rows over and under them, and the hat, coat, and footgear of the 
7238— No. 28— O: 14 



210 BUEEATJ OP AMEEICAN ETHNOLOGY [buli,. 28 

Spaniard; so also is the carpenter's ax on fragment X (plate xv). 
All else, if colored at all, is painted yellow. 

As for the general character of this manuscript, the figure of the 
Spaniard, on fragment XI (plate xvi), who is pulling two Indians 
along by a rope and the four Indians, on fragment X (plate xv) , who, 
with their hands bound behind their backs, hang upon a sort of gal- 
lows, show that this is a bill of complaint. The Indians enter com- 
plaint of oppression on the part of the Spaniards of ill treatment, 
work unjustly required, and of supplies unpaid for. This is there- 
fore a document similar to the Pintura del Gobernador, Alcaldes y 
Regidores de Mexico, which was discovered in the archives of the 
Duke of Osuna. But our manuscript unfortunately is not provided 
with text ; therefore a degree of uncertainty will always attach to the 
interpretations. 

Among the various illustrations, I will first draw attention to the 
one at the top of fragment XI (plate xvi). Here Ave see the head 
of an Indian and behind it his hieroglyph, a white roll, probably 
meant to represent paper (amatl) (see a, figure 46, from the tribute 
list in the Mendoza codex, page 27, and described in the text as " papel 
de la tierra "). After this comes a house, with walls evidently sup- 
posed to be built of reeds, like the xacalli in the lower part of frag- 
ment II (plate vii). But the roof is different. It looks as though 
there had been an attempt to draw the prickly point of an agave leai 
on the house. These sharp points of the agave leaf were called uitztli, 
" thorn ", and uitztli, or uitzoctli, " pricking pulque ", was also the 
name given to newly fermented pulque, the intoxicating drink pre- 
pared from the juice of the agave.« That there is here a reference to 
something of the kind appears from what follows the house in the 
drawing. We see there three jugs with basket-work covering, fur- 
nished with straw or rope handles. 

This illustration is valuable in itself, as it incidentally throws 
light upon the locality and the outward circumstances. We are 
forced to conclude that there is a reference here to occurrences on a 
pulque hacienda. Furthermore, we learn from the jugs on fragment 
XI (plate xvi) that the peculiar design to be seen on them and simi- 
lar objects represented on these fragments (an unpainted white border 
with a stripe running through it on one side) is meant for the mouth 
of a vessel. The artist may have had in mind a vessel with a sort of 
lip or spout which was formed by narrowing the mouth at one side. 
We find the same design on the two transverse rows of red, four- 
cornered objects corded with ropes, which are represented in the 
upper portion of fragment XI (plate xvi), as well as on the similar 
objects painted yellow to be seen in the two transverse rows at the 

"Sahaguu, v. 4, chap. 5. 




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SRLKR] MEXICAN PICTURE WRITINGS FRAGMENTS IX-XII 211 

bottom of fragment X (plate xv) directly above the Indians hanging 
on the gallows; furthermore, I believe that these and the four- 
cornered objects made of yellow staves and corded round the middle, 
shown at the top of fragment X (plate xv), are all meant to repre- 
sent vessels, namely, wooden butts or casks for pulque or brandy. I 
think that I see further proof of this in two other facts : in the first 
place, because, as we shall see, the delivery of wood and of wooden 
ntensils is noted elsewhere on our fragment; and, further, because 
we find a snake above the objects which I have explained to be butts 
or casks — the red ones at the top of fragment XI (plate xvi). The 
snake was often introduced into ancient pictures when pulque jugs 
were to be represented. The ring or base on which the pulque jug 
stands is most frequently formed of the coils of a snake. 

The three rows of Indians on fragment XI (plate xvi) with sticks 
in their hands carrjdng on their backs tubs which are bound to a 
ladderlike frame (cacaxtli), would illustrate the transportation of 
pulque, Avhich labor the Spaniards imposed upon the Indians. In 
the same connection I am inclined to believe that the two Indians on 
fragment XII (plate xvii) with great pots upon their backs are 
meant to represent the bringing or transportation of condensed agave 
juice (see &, figure 46), which is in the tribute list, Mendoza codex, 
pages 29 and 77, and explained in the text as miel de maguey espesa 
''thickened maguey honey"). The two Indians at the bottom of 
fragment XI (plate xvi) wdth the small jugs on their backs might 
convey the same idea, or perhaps they are bringing real honey (see the 
similar but smaller figure in the tribute list of the Mendoza codex, 
page 38, wdiich is explained in the text as cantarillo de miel de abeja 
(" small jug of bee's honey "). 

The drawing at the bottom of fragment XII (plate xvii) is also 
perfectly intelligible. Here we see three slaughtered pigs. It is 
obvious from the shape of the hoofs that they are meant for pigs, and 
that they are supposed to be slaughtered is plainly indicated by the 
red color under the snout; but if these are pigs, then it is clear 
that the animal's head in the ten or eleven rows of baskets, which are 
bound to a ladder-shaped carrying frame (cacaxtli), on fragments 
XI (plate xvi) and XII (plate xvii), must likewise signify pork. 
If this should not be perfectly plain to anyone, I would refer him to 
the lowest row, on fragment XII (plate xvii), where the pig's foot is 
distinctl}^ drawn in addition to the pig's head. 

The great majority of other representations deal with the delivery 
of wood and wooden utensils. The long pieces with a hole at the end, 
in fragments X (plate xv) and XII (plate xvii) represent beams (see 
c, figure 46, which is explained in the tribute list, Mendoza codex, 
page 34, as vigas grandes — " large beams "). The smaller and more 



212 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

slender pieces probably represent boards and laths (see d and e, 
which are explained in the tribute list, Mendoza codex, pages 25 and 
28, as tablones de madera grandes and morillos de madera — " large 
wooden planks"). The large round circles and the broad four-cor- 
nered pieces may be meant for table tops or possibly blocks of wood. 
MoreoA^er, on fragments TX (plate xiv) and X (plate xv) there are 
drawings of pieces of bent wood ; on fragment X (plate xv) two rows 
of seats; and on fragments X (plate xv) and XI (plate xvi), draw- 
ings which seem to be bedsteads. The objects in the row at the bot- 
tom of fragment IX (plate xiv) are probably meant for lath frames 
or sleeping benches, for we find very similar figures drawn on page 
34 of the Goupil-Boban atlas under the name of tlapechtli, rendered 
tablado, andamio, cama de tablas (" framework, scaffolding, a broad 
bed"), Molina (see /, figure 46). Finally, carpentry is clearly de- 
noted by the figure of a carpenter (tlaxinqui) with an ax (tlaximal- 
tepoztli) in his hand (see g, which designates carpenters, carpinteros, 
in the Pinturna del Gobernador, Alcaldes y Kegidores de Mexico). 

And, lastly, the delivery of stone or masonry is represented on 
fragment IX (plate xiv) by a heap of stones, and near the lower end 
of fragment XII (plate xvii) by a row of stones. 

If, then, we read the details correctly, complaints are made in our 
manuscript, first, at the bottom of fragment X (plate xv) , of ill treat- 
ment; then, of compulsory labor, at the top of fragment XI (plate 
xvi) ; and, lastly, of unjust requisitions of or failure to pay for wood 
and various wood articles, pulque casks, stone, and pork. 

FKAGMENT XIII 

This is a strip of tolerably thin fine agave paper, 49 by 31 cm. in 
size (plate xviii). Only the lower half is written on, and of this 
only the lower portions are colored, the upper part being merely out- 
lined, that is, unfinished, a proof that here, too, the writer began in 
the old way, at the lower end of the strip, proceeding upward with his 
entries. The lower end is imperfect; but, judging by the space occu- 
pied by the Spanish document written on the reverse side, there can 
not be much missing. At any rate, there was no other roAv beneath 
the lowest one. 

The document is of precisely the same character as one of the 
manuscripts which passed from the collection of the Hon Joel R. 
Poinsett, formerly United States minister to Mexico, into the pos- 
session of the American Philosophical Society, in Philadelphia, 
and which is published in the Transactions of the American Philo- 
sophical Society, new series, volume 12, part 2, article 4 (Phila- 
delphia, 1892), under the title Tribute Eoll 4 (Calendar 1). There, 
as here, we see circles painted yellow alternating Avith red circles 










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SELER] MEXICAN PICTDEE WEITINGS — FRAGMENT XIII 213 

containing a verticillate drawing, a sort of swastika. There are 
alwaj^s six yellow circles between the red ones, which is a clear proof 
that the yellow circles are meant for week days, the red ones for 
Sundays. Indeed, the whirling figure of the swastika is only a some- 
what different form of the sign {h and /, figure 46) which the Mexi- 
cans used for the word ilhuitl, which meant " day ", but in a special 
sense " feast day ", " festival ". In the manuscript of the American 
Philosophical Society we must begin with the lowest row on the 
right, follow this to the left, and the next from left to right, and 
so on, back and forth. Wherever a new month begins the series 
of week days is interrupted by the picture of the moon, which is 
alternately drawn facing to the right and the left (see h and ?, same 
figure), and is not to be included in counting the series of days. 
Proceeding from below upward, we have, in succession, first a month 
of 31 days, then one of 30 days, again 31 days, 30 days, 31 days, 
and, lastly, 31 days once more. This last month must, therefore, 
have been August or January, the first one March or August. On 
our fragment (plate xviii) the sign for the first day of the month is 
missing. The rows are probably to be followed back and forth, as 
described above, as we are led to conclude by certain facts which will 
be mentioned below. But the true circumstances can no longer be 
determined because several days have been cut away with scissors 
from the right-hand side of the page. 

Over each separate day on our fragment there is a woman's head, 
recognizable by the two erect hornlike braids over the forehead — 
the hair dress of Mexican women (see r, figure 37). . This can hardly 
mean anything else than that on the daj^s in question women were 
commanded to do service. The heads are arranged over the days 
in pairs, facing each other, and between the two faces there is always 
a little flag, the hieroglyphic expression for the number 20. In 
the two upper rows the matter is simj^lified. Only one head is 
drawn and this is connected by a straight line with two consecu- 
tive days, the number 20 standing beside the single head. At the 
left end of the lowest row an odd day was left over. The woman's 
head is placed over this, but only the half of 20, the numeral 10, 
is added, and this is correct. But, in addition, this odd day is con- 
nected with an odd day at the left end of the second row from 
the bottom, and then, pleonastically, as it were, the numeral 20 
is placed between them. All this can hardly be explained except- 
ing on the assumption that the shifts of workers were changed every 
two days, that is, that different women came every two days. But 
the fact that the writer passed from the left end of the lowest row 
to the left end of the next higher proves that he began at the right- 
hand lower corner, as in the case of the document of the American 



214 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY f bull. 28 

Philosophical Society, and followed the rows back and forth always 
connecting directly with the last end. But there seems to be a 
hiatus at the left end of the third row. The writer must have begun 
anew here, that is, at the right of the fourth row. In the manuscnpt 
of the American Philosophical Society a woman's head is likewise 
always joined with two days. Thus the shifts of workers must there 
also have been changed every two days. There are no numerals with 

the heads. , , , ^ ^-, 

The chief service in which women have been employed among all 

the tribes has always been cooking. With the Mexicans this was an 

especially important office, as the chief article of diet, the tortiUa 

■ (tlaxcalli), could not be prepared in large quantities to be kept, hke 
our bread, but was freshly prepared by a somewhat elaborate process 
for every meal, and eaten fresh and hot. The American Philosophical 
Society's manuscript clearly and distinctly shows that this is the 
feminine office alluded to in our manuscript, because in one instance 
beside the woman's head a mealing stone (metlatl) is depicted with 
the pulverized grain on it, followed by the baking slab {o, figure 46), 
and in another the head is followed by a dry measure, p, which m 
Mexican painting denoted a fanega of corn (see ^, taken from a 
page in the Aubin-Goupil collection, Goupil-Boban atlas plate 2<. 
On the page referred to there are five such measures with tlie little 
flag above them (20), and the Spanish text below explains that this 
means 100 fanegas of corn (que se entiende cien hanegas de mahiz). 

' But since not only the mealing stone, but also the corn measure was 
drawn beside the women's heads, I think it can be safely deduced that 
the account represented in the American Philosophical Society s man- 
uscript noted not merely the service performed, but also the material 

delivered. ^ . • . a.,.^.^ 

In our fragment XIII (plate xviii) no such objects are diawn 
beside the women's heads. But the writing on the iwerse side ot the 
pac^e proves that the reference is to similar services. The manuscripts 
in A von Humbokh's collection are, as I have already stated with the 
exception of the first, pasted upon large sheets of paper of the size ot 
the atlas of which this is the descriptive text. In examining frag- 
ment XIII (plate xviii), which is rather thin paper, it first occurred 
to me that there must be writing on the reverse side. I began cau- 
tiously to detach it, and by calling in expert assistance I succeeded m 
removing the sheet uninjured from its backing. On the reverse side 
T found the following document : 

' Dio-o yo diego hermano del mayordomo deste pueblo de misquia- 
<.uala%. resebi del senor manuel de olvera coregidor deste dicho 
pueblo 101 peso y medio de las yndias quelles q. an hecho tortillas en 
su casa y me a pagado todas las demas q. han servido hasta oy. fecho 



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seler] 



MEXICAN PICTUEE WRITINGS FRAGMENT XIII 



215 



a veynte y nueve de mayo de mill y quiniento y sesenta y nueve anos 

tg mechior de contreras y galp q. firmo per el otrgante 

ante mi 
s melchior de P- de palen 

contreras 

(" I, Diego, brother of the bailiff of this village Mizquiyauallan, 
acknowledge that I have received from Mr Manuel de Olvera, mag- 
istrate of this said village, 101-| pesos for the women who made tor- 
tillas at his house, and (that) he has- paid me for all the other 
(women) who have performed services up to the present date. Done 

on May 29, 1569. Witness, Melchior de Contreras y Galp 

in evidence of which I sign for him who executes this document. 

" Melchior de Contreras. 

" Before me, P. de Palen, .") 




jaytc 



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On 



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Oi-OcktAUCe*- 







Fig. 47. OiBcial signatures. 

It is therefore clear that this fragment XIII was likewise an 
account, one indeed of services rendered by women, who were ordered 
to bake tortillas and to do other work. The account comes from the 
same village of Mizquiyauallan, to which the account on fragment VII 
(plate xii) of our collection belongs, and the reverse contains the 
receipt for wages paid for these services. The days which were cut 
out of the right side of the sheet seem to represent a deduction, a 
reduction of the account or a correction to which the person present- 
ing it was obliged to submit. This document is two years older than 
that on fragment VII (plate xii). 

As for the persons concerned, the receiver of the money is the 
brother of the major-domo of Mizquiyauallan, and is mentioned here, 
as is common among Indians, merely by his Christian name, Diego. 
The major-domo's name is not given, but it is probable that he is 



216 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

the person who signed the receipt on fragment VII (plate xti). 
There the major-domo himself signed the receipt («, figure 47) . Here 
his brother does not know how to write. A Spaniard, Melchior de 

Contreras y Galp (c) signs for him. The bill is paid by the 

same Manuel de Olvera mentioned on fragment VII (plate xii). 
Here, two years earlier, he was corregidor; that is, village magis- 

I can not quite decipher the signature of the official before whom 
the business was transacted, d. 

Finally, it is to be noticed that there are moreover three men s 
heads on our fragment, each with a hieroglyph behind or over it, 
which undoubtedly gives the name of the man. The heads with 
hieroglyphs in the top row both stand at the beginning of a section 
marked by a line of partition. The same seems to be the case m the 
second row from the top ; for the progression here, as shown by the 
position of the women's heads, is from left to right, although the 
beginning of the division here (at the left end) is not especially 
denoted by a line. In exactly the same way a man's head with a 
hieroglyph is placed at the beginning of a section, designated by a 
line, in the document of the American Philosophical Society. These 
men's heads most probably represent the gobernadores de Indios or 
the village magistrates who furnished the women to bake tortillas. 
The man on the left end of the second row from the top has the head 
of a bird of prey behind him as a hieroglyph. His name may have 
been quauhti, " eagle ", cuixtli, " hawk ", or something of the kind. 
The man on the right end of the top row must have had a similar 
name. The man at the left end of the top row has a hieroglyph 
which seems to consist of two pointed leaf ends, with thorns on the 
upper surface. This may be the hieroglyph for Uitznauatl, for in 
the list of names of persons of Uexotzinco, where Uitznauatl is a 
quite common name, it is invariably expressed by the points of two 
agave leaves drawn side by side. It is very remarkable that in the 
document of the American Philosophical Society one of the two 
men's heads represented there, the one at the left end of the third 
row from the top, is marked by the same hieroglyph (see m, figure 
46). The one at the right end of the fifth row was probably named 
Quiyauh, for his hieroglyph consists of three drops of rain hanging 
down (or falling) (see ?i, same figure). 

Fragment XIII (plate xviii) of our collection and the Tribute 
EoU 4 (Calendar 1) of the American Philosophical Society are 
doubtless distinct and independent documents, but so closely akhi m 
■ idea, in drawing, and in various details, that we can safely attribute 
them to the same locality and period. Our fragment XIII (plate 
xviii), having its explanation on the reverse side, is, therefore, a 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGV 




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MEXICAN PAINTING-HU 




BULLETIN 28 PLATE XVIll 




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SELEH] MEXICAN PICTUEE WEITINGS FEAGMENT XIV 2l7 

valuable document by which to judge the manuscript in the posses- 
sion of the American Philosophical Society. 

I have already mentioned that fragment VII (plate xii) of our 
collection, which, like fragment XIII (plate xviii), now under dis- 
cussion, came from the village of Mizquiyauallan, seems to have 
belonged to the Boturini collection. I quoted the passage in Botu- 
rini's Museo Indiano (Catalogo, number 1, section 21) which de- 
scribes these manuscripts from Mizquiyauallan : Tres mapas en papel 
Indiano como faxas. Tratan de los tributes que pagaba el pueblo de 
Mizquiahuallan, y en el se ven las cifras numericas de cada cosa, que 
entregaban los vecinos (" Three maps on Indian paper like bands. 
They treat of the tribute paid by the village of Mizquiyauallan, and 
contain the numerical statement of each article furnished by the 
householders"). 

Now, if the one page of the Poinsett collection, at present belong- 
ing to the. American Philosophical Society, is so closely related to 
fragment VII (plate xi) of our collection, and the other to our frag- 
ment XIII (plate xviii) that we feel tempted to attribute them to the 
same place and date, then the question arises whether the two Amer- 
ican manuscripts are not also mentioned in Boturini. This seems, 
indeed, to be the case; for, directly after the passage quoted above, 
two other and longer manuscripts from the same village are men- 
tioned in section 21 of the Museo Indiano, under numbers 2 and 4 : 

2. Otro [mapa] de la misma materia y mas largo, de dicho pueblo 
[Mizquiahuallan] ("Another [map] of the same material and larger 
from the same village [Mizquiyauallan]"). 

4. Otro del mismo papel y mas largo del mismo pueblo ("Another 
on the same paper and larger from the same village"). 

FRAGMENT XIV 

This (plate xix) is a piece of tolerably thick, firm agave paper, 34 
by 15 cm. Near the upper end two strips have been pasted one over 
the other. The frayed end of the strip underneath is plainly visible. 
Below the top row are the words estangia de tlatonpan. 

The fragment may be divided into two essentially different parts, 
an upper and a lower one. In the upper part everything is painted 
crimson and in the lower yellow predominates. The base of the 
upper part is formed by a strip inclosed within two transverse lines, 
in which are three men's heads, each having a remarkable character 
behind it which looks like a key. Two of them are, moreover, pro- 
vided with special hieroglyphs. I take the character which looks 
like a key actually to be one, and consider it as an expression of the 
word tlatlati, which means " he who hides something, or shuts up or 
guards something " (el que guarda alguna cosa, o el que esconde algo, 



218 



BUEEAU OP AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



[BULL. 28 



Molina) , for in the Xaltepetlapan list of names of persons (Manu- 
scrit Mexicain number 3, Bibliotheque Nationale) I find mention of 
a man named Juan Tlatiatin, who is described by the hieroglyph «, 
figure 48; that is, by a hand holding up a key. The first person 
from the right seems to be hieroglyphically designated by two horns 
on his head. His name may therefore have been Quaquauh (see l 
and c, same figure) , which in the list of names of persons ( Manuscrit 
Mexicain number 3, Bibliotheque Nationale) denote persons of that 
name. The second person seems to be hieroglyphically designated 
by a stone (te-tl) and water (a-tl). The third person has no hiero- 
glyph, and I can not interpret the circular design in front of him. 






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Fio. 4S. Symbols for certain persons and for numbers 




Both divisions of the page treat of the same, matter, the delivery 
of articles for which payment is asked or nonpayment is complained 
of; that is, it is an account or a bill of complaint. 

If we take for granted that we are to proceed from below upward, 
as in the other fragments, then the first representation below would 
be ten turkey hens, followed by five cocks. Beside the cock at the 
left end of the row, however, there is a small flag, the sign for 20. 
This, therefore, must mean 24 cocks. In the next row above, first 
on the right, there is a vessel and above that a figure, which I can not 
explain, surrounded by featherlike rays, very much like those (see 
the upper half of this fragment) which are drawn to denote the num- 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



BULLETIN 28 PLATE XIX 





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SELKR] MEXICA]Sr PICTURE WRITINGS FRAGMENT XIV 219 

ber 400 (tzontli). Then follow small oblong objects, each with a 
small flag (20), and in the row above there are ten vessels, each of 
which probably stands for a fanega of corn (see p and </, figure 46). 

We have in the right lower section of the red upper portion of our 
fragment first, immediately over the men's heads, two turkeys' heads, 
similar to the lower division. Then follow two figures which are 
probably meant for chili, " red-pepper pods ", each provided with the 
bush, which denotes the number centzontli, or 400. Turkey and red- 
pepper sauce belong together. Molle con guajolote is still the holi- 
day dish throughout the country. Then follow three round objects, 
each intersected by a cross and with the number 400 attached; then, 
two peculiar figures, which we have not hitherto encountered, and of 
which I shall speak directly. Over them are five small circles, each 
with the number 400, and in the row above eight vessels (fanegas 
of corn) and round objects like those in the lower row, each with a 
little flag indicating 20. 

The question now arises, what are the little oval objects, fifteen of 
which in the lower compartment are marked with a little flag, a total 
of 3,000, and five in the upper portion with the little flag, a total 
of 1,000? Since these articles are counted and the amounts reach so 
high a figure, I think they must be meant for cacao beans (see d 
to g^ figure 48). This mode of counting also occurs in other manu- 
scripts (see d^ taken from the tribute list in the Mendoza codex, page 
19, described in the text as " 1,600 almendras de cacao "; and /, taken 
from the Pintura del Gobernador, Alcaldes y Regidores de Mexico, 
where the little flag or 20 is omitted from the single beans on the 
right). The text says, chiquacen tzontli ypan chicompohualli, 
which means six times four hundred, and seven times twenty (cacao 
beans). But this very omission of the little flag in this painting 
proves that the unit in counting chocolate nuts was the number 20, 
which is always applied on our page to these doubtful objects. It 
is well known that chocolate nuts were used in ancient Mexico for 
small change and were therefore counted. 

The decussated and plain circles in the upper division, all pro- 
vided with the bush (for 400), are probably only simple numerals, 
and refer either to what went before (the red-pepper pods) or to what 
follows above (the chocolate nuts). 

As for the two j)eculiar figures at the left end of the lower row in 
the upper division, they are an expression for a load, derived from 
the scale j)an of a balance. This is obvious from a manuscript in the 
Aubin-Goupil collection, formerly owned by Don Antonio Leon y 
Gama, that is interesting on account of the peculiarities of its system 
of notation, which will be noticed here and were first noted by 



220 BUREATJ OF AMEEICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

Gama in his appendix relating to Mexican arithmetic" A page of 
this manuscript is reproduced on phate 30 of the Goupd-Boban 
atlas Here we see, for instance, forty-three, fifty-three and thirty- 
eicht loads of cornstalks (zacate) expressed by K t, and k. I have 
ch^osen these examples because they illustrate the peculiarities of nota- 
tion which occur in this manuscript. On this page the number 10 is 
expressed bv halving the little flag, which denotes 20, and coloring 
only one of "the halves, the number 15, by cutting away a fourth part 
of the little flag and coloring the other three-fourths. It is signifi- 
cant for our fragment that in all the three figures h to h we have not 
only the bundle of zacate, but also a scale pan hangmg from it, jhich 
is the symbol of a load. That the scale pan does indeed typify the 
weight,"a load, on this page is made still further evident by the fact 
that on the same page the same symbol of the scale pan is used to 
denote the coin 1 peso, as we saw it in 6-, figure 44 (see I to n figure 
48 where the reals and medios are attached to the pesos m the same 
way as we saw them in c to /, figure 44, which I have already dis- 
cussed more particularly). The two figures at the left end of the 
lower row in the upper (red) division, therefore, must signify a load. 
This ao-ain may refer to what went before (the red-pepper pods) or 
to what follows (the cacao beans) : for these were also reckoned by 
loads (see e to g, figure 48, the former from the Mendoza codex, tlie 
latter from the Pintura del Gobernador, Alcaldes y Regidores de 

Mexico). -,. . . 1 1 

This being settled, the top rows of the two divisions also become 
clear In the top row of the lower division we have on the right 
first three loads of zacate. Here no scale pan is drawn hanging 
from the bundle, as in h to /.;, but the whole bundle, instead of the 
scale pan, hangs by the three cords. Then follows a mat, and, lastly, 
two square objects which may represent boards or perhaps some 

woven fabric. -iff 

In the top row of the upper division we have first, on the right, two 
bundles of zacate; then, two loads of wood. Here the load is drawn 
in the same way as in the lower division; that is, the bundle of wood 
in place of the scale pan hangs from the three cords. 

Plate 30 of the Goupil-Boban atlas, which gave us the key to 
the meaning of the figures selected to denote loads on fragment XIV 
(plate xix) of our collection, belongs to a manuscript which is fur- 
nished with text and is a bill of complaint issued against Captain 
Jorge Ceron y Carabajal, alcalde mayor of the town of Chalco, 
brouo-ht before the Real Audiencia of Mexico in the year 1564. It is 
not iTiiprobable that our fragment came from the same locality, and 
perhaps it belongs to the same period. 

" a Gama, Dos Tiedras, edid. Bustaaieate. M(5xico, 1832, p. 137. 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 




MEXICAN PAINTlNG-h 



BULLETIN 28 PLATE XX 




)LDT FRAGMENT XV 



SELEE] MEXICAN PICTURE WRITINGS FRAGMENTS XV, XVI 221 

FKAGMENT XV 

This (plate xx) is a strip of agave paper 34 cm. long and 52 cm. 
wide, which resembles the fragments X to XII (plates xv, xvi, and 
XVII ). The drawing of the figures also exhibits an unmistakable 
resemblance to those fragments. 

This fragment also belongs among those of our collection which 
can with tolerable certainty be identified with some of those described 
by Boturini. It is mentioned in the Catalogo del Museo Indiano in 
section 21, under number 10: Otro [mapa] del mismo [papel Indiano], 
y pinta gran Numero de pavos, que se pagavan de Tributo. No se 
sabe de que pueblo (" another [map] on the same paper [Indian 
paper] , which depicts a great number of turkeys, which were paid as 
tribute, it is not known from what town "). 

Besides the personages on the right, there are only turkey cocks 
(designated by the heads) represented in the six divisions, which are 
formed on the fragment b}'^ transverse lines. The first fifteen vertical 
rows are painted red, the last two blue. In every transverse division 
we have in the first vertical row (on the right) 5 turkey heads, and in 
all the following vertical rows only 4. The whole number of red tur- 
key heads occurring in one division is, therefore, 61, The rows of 
blue turkeys are probably incomplete. 

Of the persons on the right side of the fragment the loAvest one has 
no hieroglj'^ph. The next one is designated by a bird's head with a long 
curved beak. The next two are destroyed. The one before the last 
has for a hieroglyph the picture of a fish close beside his head: his 
name, therefore, was probably Michin. The topmost one has a circle 
below his head, which may have reference to his name. 

FRAGMENT XVI 

We have next a strip of thick, firm paper 35 cm. long, 45 cm. 
wide, which looks like European paper made of rags. Microscopic 
investigation, however, reveals a fiber which in appearance, thickness 
of cell wall, size of lumen,' etc., is apparently precisely like the fibers 
of the coarse agave paper used for fragments III (plate viii) and IV 
(plate ix). But, together with these, single fibers occur which are 
A^ery delicate and spirally coiled, and which seem to stretch and unroll 
slightly in the water of the object glass. 

This fragment, as the creases prove, was folded in four parts, and is 
much damaged, especially on the right side. The drawings are done 
in black ink, without other coloring. The pictures begin above at 
the left, and continue in this row from left to right, but in the second 
row from right to left, and so on, the direction alternating. 

The representations are of a religious nature. In order to under- 
stand them it is necessary to consult the Homan Catechism, especially 



222 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

those versions of it which were used in earlier times, as well as down 
to the present day, by the priests wdio were sent to the Indian villages 
to instruct the natives and take charge of their spiritual welfare. I 
found an exact agreement between the representations on our frag- 
ment and the text of a Catecismo en Idioma Mixteco, printed in 
1839 at Puebla. The numerals given on the fragment at once made 
it plain to me that the fourteen articles of faith of the Roman cate- 
chism, and, loAver down, the ten com.mandments are here represented. 
I will take the catechism printed in 18?>9 as my starting point, and 
will give in each successive section, first, the paragraph from the 
catechism and then the description of the picture which explains it. 

The first roAv begins at the left : Section 1. Los articulos de la Fe 
son catorce ("There are fourteen articles of faith"). The picture 
shows us first a page covered with writing and a hand Avhich points 
to it. This means article. Then comes a cross on a base formed by a 
series of steps; this means faith. Then comes the numeral 14, ar- 
ranged in the usual way in groups of five. Section 2. Los siete per- 
tenecen a la divinidad (" Seven appertain to the deity"). The pic- 
ture gives us first the numeral 7 and then a bearded (Spanish) face, 
and over it a drawing, apparently meant to represent a halo, consist- 
ing of a metal disk, in the center of which and at regular distances 
in the periphery there are perforations. This is the hieroglyph regu- 
larly used throughout to denote God. Section 3. Y los otros siete 
[pertenecen] a la santa humanidad de nuestro Seiior Jesucristo 
(" And the other seven [appertain] to the holy humanity of our Lord 
Jesus Christ ") . The picture gives first the numeral 7. Then, on a 
base, cross, spear, and the sponge soaked in vinegar and fastened to a 
reed, Avhich means the crucified, the God-man. Section 4. Los [siete 
articulos] que pertenecen a la divinidad son estos (" Those [seven 
articles] wdiich appertain to the deity are these "). The picture gives 
first the numeral 7, then (.he hieroglyph for " article " (see section 1), 
then the picture of God (see section 2), only there is a flowing gar- 
ment indicated here below the head. Section 5. El primero [arti- 
culo] creer en un solo Dios Todospoderoso ("The first [article], to 
believe in one Omnipotent God "). The picture gives the numeral 1, 
the hieroglyph " article ", and the picture of God. With the hiero- 
glyph " article " is combined a figure which is difficult to interpret. 
Possibly it is meant to represent the One over all things, the 
iLlmiglity. Section 6. El segundo [articulo], creer que es Dios Padre 
("The second [article], to believe that He is God, the Father"). 
The picture is partly destroyed. The numeral 2 must have stood at 
the top. Then follows the hieroglyph " article ", and the picture of 
God as He was represented in section 1, but here He has two arms. 
The left hand holds the imperial globe. In the right He probably 



SELEKl MEXICAN PICTURP: WRITINGS FRAGMENTS XV, XVI 228 

held a scepter. Section 7. El tercero [ articiilo], creer que es Dios 
Hijo ("The third [article], to believe that He is God, the Son"). 
Part of the numeral 3 is still visible with the hieroglyph " article ", 
below, and, close by, a figure with a garment like the one in section 4 
and an outstretched arm. The head and essential parts, however, are 
destroyed. 

The second row begins at the right: Section 1. El cuarto [arti- 
culo], creer que es Dios Espiritu Santo ("The fourth [article], to 
believe that He is God, the Holy Ghost"). On the right a part of 
the numeral 4 is still discernible. Then follows the hieroglyph 
" article ", and then the dove descending from heaven, which is the 
Holy Ghost. Section 2. El quinto [articulo], creer que es Criador 
("The fifth [article], to believe that He is the Creator"). At the 
right of the division is the numeral 5, and in front of it the hiero- 
glyph " article ". On the left is God with the imperial globe in His 
hand. Above, are depicted the starry heavens; below, a house built 
of bones, that is, the lower regions. Section 3. El sesto [articulo], 
creer que es Salvador (" The sixth [article], to believe that H\'. is the 
Saviour "). On the right is the numeral 6; then God Avith the cross 
in one hand and in the other the spear (which made the wound in 
His side). Section 4. El septimo [articulo], creer que es Glorificador 
("The seventh [article], to Ijelieve that He is the Glorifier"). On 
the right is, first, the hieroglyph "article"; then the numeral. On 
the left is the head of a priest — not of God, for the bearded face is 
represented with plain hair, without the massive halo. In the middle 
of the division are two thick, black figures, like iron bolts, symbols 
employed below to express the idea of commandment. This is clearly 
intended to represent the priest filled with the Holy Ghost, who 
regulates the life of the parish. Section 5. Los [articulos] que pei-- 
tenecen a la Santa Humanidad de nuestro Sehor Jesucristo son los 
[siete] siguientes (" Those [articles] Avhich appertain to the holy 
humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ, are the [seven] following"). 
The picture shows us first at the right a figure which reminds us of 
the tufts of eagle's down in the old manuscripts. I can Jiot Avholl_y 
explain it. It apparently serves here as a mark of separation. Then 
follows the numeral 7 ; then the cross and instruments of the passion, 
just as in section 3 of the first row. Section 6. El primero [articulo], 
creer que nuestro Sehor Jesucristo en cuanto hombi^e fue concebido 
por obra del Espiritu Santo (" The first [article], to believe that our 
Lord Jesus Christ in so far as He was man, was conceived of the 
Holy Ghost"). The picture shows us to the right 1 (a circle); 
l)elow it the hieroglyph " article " ; then the Holy Ghost as a dove 
and, in a manner proceeding from it, the face of God, as heretofore. 
From this section on there is some confusion in the numeration. A 
new section ought to follow now with the numeral 2, and with what 



224 BUREAU OP AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

is pictorially represented in the rest of section 6, for there now fol- 
lows in the catechism: El segundo [articulo], creer que nacio de 
Santa Maria Virgen siendo elk virgen antes del parto, y despues del 
parto (''The second [article], to believe that He was born of the 
Holy Virgin Mary, she being a virgin before and after His birth "). 
The picture shows us the Virgin Mary with a halo, and issuing from 
her body is God, as previously represented, but with the spear, the 
instrument of the passion, in his hand. But the numeral 2, which 
should be here, is in section 1 of the third rov>^ following. 

The third row begins at the left: Section 1. El tercero [articulo], 
creer que recebicS muerte y pasion por salvar a nosotros pecadores 
(" The third [article], to believe that He suffered and died to save us 
sinners"). The picture shows us first, on the left, the numeral 2, 
which really belongs in the second half of the preceding section; then 
God crucified, and then in the grave, marked by a cross, the corpse, 
recognizable by the closed eyes. Section 2. El cuarto [articulo], 
creer que descendio a los infiernos y saco las animas de los Santos 
Padres, que estaban esperando su santo advenimiento (" The fourth 
[article], to believe that He descended into hell and brought out the 
souls of the holy fathers, who were abiding there in hope of His 
blessed coming "). First, on the left, is the numeral 3, which really 
belongs to the preceding section, and under it the hieroglyph " arti- 
cle ". Then follows God with the cross in His right hand and before 
Plim a short path, the two footprints of which lead into the wide- 
open jaws of a fiery monster, which represent the interior of the 
earth, or hell, quite after the manner of ancient Mexican symbolism. 
Within are to be seen the souls, represented by a heart, otherwise the 
dead, represented by heads with closed eyes. Section 3. El qunito 
[articulo], creer que resuscito al tercer dia de entre los muertos 
(" The fifth [article], to believe that He rose again from the dead on 
the third day''). On the left is, first, the numeral 4, which really 
belongs in the previous section. Then comes the hieroglyph " arti- 
cle ". On the right are the dead with fleshless ribs and closed eyes, 
and before them is God with the spear, the instrument of the passion, 
in His hand. In the center, a figure bent at right angles and twice 
doubled, which is probably meant to express the act of arising. Sec- 
tion 4. El sesto [articulo], creer que subio a los cielos, y esta sentado 
a la diestra de Dios Padre Todopoderoso ('' The sixth [article], to 
believe that He ascended into lieaven, where He sitteth at the right 
hand of God, the Omnipotent Father "). The picture presents first, 
on the left, the numeral 5, which really belongs in the previous section. 
Then follows the face of God, and joined to this is a ladder leading 
up to the starry heavens. A hand from heaven points to a circle 
filled with network, which is apparently meant, like the similar figure 
in the fifth section (from the left) in the first row, to express the 



SELER] MEXICAJSr PICTUKE WRITINGS FRAGMENTS XV, XVI 225 

Omnipotent God. Section 5. El septimo [articiilo] , creer que vendra 
a jiizgar a los vivos y a los muertos, etc. (" The seventh [article], to 
believe that He shall come to judge the quick and the dead"). 
On the left is, first, the numeral 6, which really belongs in the previ- 
ous section. Then follows God with the sword, the symbol of justice, 
in His hand. Then followed, evidently, the dead in one square, and 
the living in another; but the edge is destroyed and very little more of 
the picture is now to be seen. The last words of explanation follow 
in the next row. 

The fourth roAV begins at the right. Section 1. Conviene a saber, 
a los buenos, para darles gloria, porque guardaron sus Santos Manda- 
mientos (" The good should know, to give them glory, because they 
kept His holy commandments "). First, on the right, is the numeral 
7 and the hieroglyph " article ", which reallj^ belong in the previous 
section. Then comes a house containing a man, behind Avhom is a 
sign like an ear of maize, which is used as below in the third com- 
mandment (row 5, section 6), as an expression for " receiving honor ". 
The whole probably signifies a good man. Then follows a picture 
which I can not exactW explain, and this is followed by the bearded 
face of a priest who seems to proffer the same sign for " honoring ". 
Sections 2 to 4. Y a los malos pena eterna, porque no los guardaron. 
Amen ("And to the wicked eternal punishment, because they kept 
them not. Amen"). Here I am not quite sure whether the fi^rst 
of these sections does not belong to the foregoing. On the right we 
see first a hand with a circle, which in section 5 seemed to indicate the 
beginning of a new chapter. Indeed, the whole fragment begins 
above, with a hand. Then follows the hieroglyph " article ". Then 
comes a circle with a cross and a semicircular figure over it, which I 
can not explain. In the next section flames seem to be indicated, and 
farther on are the heads of the damned. In the next section we have 
a man prostrate on the ground, probably one of the damned, or the 
devil looking on. Then follow the black iron bolt and the inverted 
heart, which signifies souls in hell, as we have already seen in the 
representation of the jaws of the earth in the second section of the 
third row. With section 5 begins the new chapter, the ten command- 
ments. The catechism begins with the words: Los mandamientos de 
la ley de Dios son diez (" The commandments of God's law are ten "). 
The picture shows us, first, on the right, a hand and a circle, which 
denotes the beginning of a chapter. Then follows the iron bolt, 
which possibly expresses the idea " commandment ". Then the 
numeral 10. 

The fifth row begins at the left: Section 1. Los tres primeros 
pertenecen al honor de Dios (" The first three appertain to the honor 
of God "). The picture shows the numeral 3 and the head of God 
7238— No. 28—05 15 



226 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

(with the massive, perforated halo). Section 2 (not separated from 
the preceding one by a line). Y los otros siete al provecho del 
proximo ("And the other seven to the advantage of the neighbor ). 
The'^ picture shows the numeral 7 and a human head, combined with 
three black balls or circles. I can not explain the latter. Can they 
mean coins to express provecho? Section 3. El primero, amaras a 
Dios sobre v -^las las cosas (" The first, thou shalt love God above all 
things") The picture shows the numeral 1; then follows God, 
holding a heart in His hand. Section 4. El segundo, no juraras el 
nombre de Dios en vano (" The second, thou shalt not take the name 
of God in vain ") . The picture shows the numeral 2, with the picture 
of God, and on the right of the neck a hand pointing to two black 
marks The symbolism is not clear to me. " Section 5. El tercero, 
santificaras las fiestas (" The third, thou shalt keep holy the feasts ") . 
The picture shows the numeral 3 ; then what seems to be an arrow well 
wrapped, which is probably meant to express " to keep, or hallow "; 
then a house with the priest inside the church. Section 6. El cuarto, 
honraras a tu padre y madre (" The fourth, thou shalt honor thy 
father and mother ") . The picture shows the numeral 4, followed by 
a man, the father, holding in his hand the symbol resembling an ear 
of maize, which we met with above as a symbol for " honor shown . 
In the middle stands the child, and on the right the mother, recogniza- 
ble by the manner of wearing the hair with the knot low on the neck, 
the two hornlike braids standing up over the forehead, and the fem- 
inine garment (uipiUi) something like a shirt, with the piece of 
insertion ornamented with tassels below the opening for the neck. 
Section 7. El quinto, no mataras ("The fifth, thou shalt not mur- 
der ") . The picture shows on the left the numeral 5, then a man with 
a sword in his hand, and facing him a bearded man who stretches out 
his hand as if to ward off injury. 

The sixth row begins at the right: Section 1. El sesto, no fornicaras 

(" The sixth, thou shalt not commit adultery "). To the right is the 

numeral 6, of which onlv a few faint traces remain; then follows the 

picture of a woman like the mother in the fourth commandment 

(row 5, section 6) . Section 2. El septimo, no hurtaras (" The seventh, 

thou Shalt not steal "). The picture represents the numeral 7 and a 

man fingering the lock of a door or a chest. Section 3. El octavo, 

no leventaras falso testimonio, ni mentiras (" The eighth, thou shalt 

not bear false witness or lie "). Here we have the numeral 8 and a 

man delivering a letter covered with black marks. Section 4. El 

noveno, no desearas la muger de tu progimo (" The ninth, thou shalt 

' not covet thy neighbor's wife "). The picture shows the numeral 9 

and a man stretching out his hand toward a woman opposite to him. 

Section 5. El decimo, no codiciaras bienes agenos (" The tenth, thou 

shalt not covet thy neighbor's goods"). This picture shows the 



K/or 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 




MEXICAN PAINTING-I: 



BULLETIN 28 PLATE XXI 




OLDT FRAGMENT XVI 



SELEK] MEXICAN" PICTURE WEITHSTGS FRAGMENTS XV, XVI 227 

numeral 10 and a man stretching out his- hand to the objects opposite 
to him, the lock of a door or chest and a woman. Section 6. Estos 
diez mandamientos se encierran en dos (" These ten commandments 
may be comprised in two "). The picture shows the numeral 10, and 
joined to it by a line the numeral 2; then follows the hieroglyph 
" article ". 

The seventh and last row begins at the left : Section 1. En servir y 
amar z Dios sobre todas las cosas (" To serve and love God above all 
other things ") . On the left may have been the picture of God. The 
picture of the heart is still visible here, as in the first commandment 
(row 5, section 3), expressing the idea of love. Section 2. Y a tu 
progimo como a ti mismo ("And thy neighbor as thyself"). The 
picture shows the numeral 2 and then two men, to express neighborly 
love. 

We have been able to prove, or to make it seem probable, that most 
of the manuscripts in our collection once belonged to the great collec- 
tion of the Cavaliere Boturini, which he was forced to leave behind 
him in Mexico when he was released from prison. Does this also 
hold good in regard to this manuscript of religious import, the last in 
our collection ? Boturini enumerates in section 25 of the catalogue of 
his Museo Indiano the following manuscripts of religious character : 

1. A manuscript of 11 pages on European paper, whose authorship 
he ascribes to Padre Sahagun. This now belongs to the Aubin-Goupil 
collection. Two pages of it are published on plate 78 of the Goupil- 
Boban atlas. 

2. A manuscript on agave paper, which he describes as follows: 
Otro pedazo de mapa con figuras y cifras en papel Indiano. Demues- 
tra parte de dichos misterios; i. e.. de nuestra Santa Fe ("Another 
fragment of a map, with illustrations and numbers, on Indian paper, 
shows part of the said mysteries, that is, of our holy faith ") . 

3. A manuscript of 4 pages on European paper with interlinear 
explanations in Otomi, ademas de las figuras y cifras, unos pocos 
venglones en lengua Otomi (" besides figures and pictures, a few lines 
in the Otomi language ") . This manuscript now exists in the Aubin- 
Goupil collection. Two pages are reproduced in plate 76 of the 
Goupil-Boban atlas. 

4. Un librito en papel Europeo de 48 fojas chiquitas. Explica 
con toscas figuras, y cifras la dicha Doctrina (" a small book on Euro- 
pean paper, of 48 tiny pages. Explains the said doctrine in rude 
pictures and figures"). This manuscript is also in the Aubin- 
Goupil collection. Two pages are reproduced in plate 77 of the 
Goupil-Boban atlas. The figures are there provided with explana- 
tions in Nahuatl. 

Of the four manuscripts of a religious character owned by Botu- 
rini, the fourth, which Boturini mentions under number 2, has not 



228 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHls-OLOGY [bull. 28 

thus far been found, but the description of this manuscript^agrees 
perfectly with our manuscript, fragment XVI (plate xxi) . For our 
manuscript is also written on agave paper, and in the representations 
the numerals alongside the pictures are very conspicuous. I therefore 
deem it not only possible, but highly probable, that our fragment XVI 
is the manuscript described by Boturini, number 2, section 2o. 

Our manuscript, inferior as it is to the paintings of the old pagan 
time, is nevertheless superior to the manuscripts of a rehgious char- 
acter in the Aubin-Goupil collection by reason of a certain vigorous 
style I am under the impression that the Aubin-Goupil picture 
catechisms were executed by European priests, but that the old 
aboriginal Indian training is evident in the drawmg of our fragment 
XVI (plate xxi). 

CONCLUSION 

The 16 (properly 14) picture manuscripts in the Alexander 
von Humboldt collection, however limited the contents of the separate 
fragments (excepting the first one) present a good synopsis ot the 
various styles and of the various purposes for which it became 
necessary to employ hieroglyphs in old pagan and early Christian 
times They are not only of archeologic interest and of interest m 
the history of civilization, but some of them, as we have seen, are also 
of positive historic value; for, as I have shown, it seems possible 
to establish a firm chronologic basis only by acting on the indications 
offered by fragment I of our collection. Some fragments, namely, 

I III and IV (plate ii to vi, viii, and ix), belong to the old pagan 
period. Others certainly originated in early Christian timesj VI 
(plate XI) is to be attributed to a period prior to A. D. 154o; Li 

plate VII), before A. D. 1565; XIII (plate xviii) bears the date 
1569- VII (plate xii), the date 1571, and the other fragments also 
can not be much later than these. As for the place where they origi- 
nated, I can unfortunately say nothing positive m regard to 1 (plates 

II to VI) ; III (plate viii) and IV (plate ix) came from Huamantla, 
in the state of Tlaxcallan ; II (plate vii) came from the immediate 
neighborhood of the Mexican capital ; while VI (plate ;^i) ^nd V ill 
(plate xiv) are from the kingdom of Tezcuco; VII XII, XIII, and 
XVIII, from Mizquiyauallan, in the land of the Otomi; and XIV 
(plate XIX) possibly from the kingdom of the Chalcas. Several of 
the manuscripts seem to express plainly the differences which existed 
among the Mexican-speaking races in spite of all their similarity in 
civilization, mode of living, and ways of thinking, and they are 
otherwise very instructive, as we have seen. 

Our great "countryman, whose field of labor lay m quite another 
domain, rescued these fragments from among a number of documents, 
which at the time were the prey of chance in Mexico. Since then 



SBLER] MEXICAN PICTURE WRITINGS 229 

they have lain among other manuscript treasures in the Royal 
Library, little noticed, or, more correctly speaking, seldom used. It 
is partly owing to facts that have only very recently become known 
that I have been able to make these fragments divulge some portion 
of their contents. 

Last year we celebrated the four hundredth anniversary of the day 
on which Columbus, the discoverer of America, first set foot in the 
New World, and within a few years we can celebrate the one 
hundredth anniversary of the day on which the scientific discoverer 
of the New World, Alexander von Humboldt, began his travels on 
that continent. May this volume, which is the first attempt at treat- 
ing of the only one of his collections hitherto untreated, be not wholly 
unworthy of the great name which it bears on the title page. 



THE BAT GOD OF THE MAYA RACE 



EDUARD SELER 



231 



THE BAT GOD OF THE MAYA RACE" 



By Eduard Seler 



The beautiful drawing sent by Mr Dieseldorff to the Anthropolog- 
ical Society shows us a deity whose worship is indeed occasionally 
mentioned by historians and whose name is contained in the names of 
various Maya races, but. of whom, on the whole, as of the mythologic 
forms of South American and Central American races generally, little 
enough is known. This deity is the bat god. 

The bat in various Maya dialects is called Zotz. From this is 
derived the name Zotzil and Ah-zotzil, the "bat people", which 
name, on the one hand, belongs to a tribe who from ancient times to 
the present day have been settled in the vicinity of what is now San 
Cristobal de Chiapas— Mexicanized as Tzinacanteca, the people of 
Tzinacantlan, the " bat city "—and, on the other hand, it belongs to 
a tribe which is probably to be regarded as a portion of the great 
nation of the Cakchikels, the chief nation of southern Guatemala. 
Finally, there is still a Tzinacantan in the extreme southeast of 
Guatemala, within the region of the Sinca language. 

Unfortunately, we are insufficiently informed concerning the lan- 
guage and traditions of the Zotzil of Chiapas, but we have some 
information in regard to the tribes of southern and western Guate- 
mala. Here in early Christian times the natives themselves wrote 
down their traditions, and these traditions, the Popol Vuh ^ and the 
annals of Xahila <= are precious documents. The only drawback 
is the difficulty of using them, because, on the one hand, we lack ade- 
quate lexicographic aids, but more especially because we have no 
exact definitions of the mythologic animals and the rest of the objects 
and expressions which have reference to the ancient folklore of these 



races. 



" E. Seler in Verhandlungen der Berliner Gesellschaft fiir Anthropologie, Ethnologie 
iind Urgeschichte, p. 577 and following, published in Zeitschrift fiir Ethnologie, 1894, 
pt. 6. 

" I'opol Vuh. Le livre sacre et les mythes de I'antiquite americaine, etc., par I'abbg 
Brasseur de Bourbourg. Paris, 1861. 

<-The Annals of the Cakchiliels. Brinton's Library of Aboriginal American Litera- 
ture, n. 6. Philadelphia, 1885. 

233 



234 BUEEAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [boll. 28 

An interesting passage in the Popol Vuh identifies the Kiches 
with the Toltecs, who are designated in the Popol Vuh as Yaqui,*^ and 
identifies Tohil, the god of the Kiche race, with Yolcuat-Quitzal- 
cuat— that is, Youalli ehecatl,'' Quetzalcoatl— the god of the Toltecs. 
While the three tribes of the Kiches had the same god, and the 
god of the Rabinals, though he was called differently, namely, Hun- 
toh, was also the same, the Cakchikels differed from the Kiches 
both in their language and in the name of the god, whom they had 
brought with them from Tollan. The Cakchikel god was called 
Zotziha Chimalcan. After the name of this god, both the Chma- 
mits, that is, the two royal families of the Cakchikels, were called 
Ah-po-zotzil and Ah-po-xa (hil).« We find the same name for this 
god once more in a second passage, and here, too, there is a more 
detailed statement concerning him. We read: "There was a tribe 
who drew fire from fire sticks. The Cakchikel god is called Zotzi- 
laha Chamalcan and the bat (zotz) is his iiiiage.'^ He was therefore 
the god who controlled fire and who was conceived of m the like- 
ness of a bat. I can not at present explain the name Chimalcan, 
or Chamalcan. Zotziha, or Zotzilaha, does not mean "bat", but 
" bat's house ". I think this should suggest a mountain cavern, the 
interior of the earth; therefore a god of caverns, of the dark realms 
of earth. This is confirmed by a passage immediately preceding the 
one just quoted, where the figure appearing before the tribes in the 
dress of a bat is styled " this Xibalba ". As a double name, Zotzi- 
laha Chimalman, is given to the deity, and as likewise two families 
correspond to this deity and are said to reproduce his name, we must 
certainly suppose that\he god had a twofold form, and that in con- 
trast to the sinister form of the bat there was another, more pleas- 
ing one. 1 1 1 ?5 
In other passages of the Popol Vuh the name Zotziha, "bat s house , 
is given, not as that of a god, but as one of the regions which must be 
traversed on the way to the deepest depths of the interior of the earth, 
the kingdom of darkness and death. Here dwells the Cama-Zotz, 
" the death bat ", the great beast who slays all who come in his way, 
and who also bit off the head of the hero Hunahpu when he descended 
to the lower world. Such images of death play a great part in the 
mythology of Mexican and Central xVmerican races. But, I repeat, 
they are always conceived of and usually drawn with their counter- 
part. 

« No doubt the Mexican Yaque, "they go", that is, "the departing", "those who go 
away ", a verbal form which is used with tolerable regularity in the texts in connection 

^* " Lit'emliy "night [andl wind", a designation or epithet applied to the deity himself. 

But it is also especially given as the name of the god of the Nahuas, and represented in 

picture writing, it would seem, by the double image of the death god and the wind god 

leaning back to back. 

c Popol Vuh, pp. 246, 248. ., t, k ,.„ 

<« Popol Vuh, p. 224. The passage is not correctly quoted by Brasseur de Bourboarg. 



SELBE] THE MAYA BAT GOD 235 

Such is the scant}^ information to be gleaned from literary records 
regarding the singular figure of the bat god; but it is enough to 
show that in this case we have to do only with a form of the deity 
of mountain caverns, of cave worship, concerning which definite 
information has been transmitted to us from the regions of the 
Isthmus and from the tribes living north and south of it. This deity 
however, apparently belonged only to the Maya races and to the Zapo- 
tec-Mixtec tribes, who were nearly allied to them in civilization, and 
possibly also in language, while to the Mexicans this cult was appar- 
ently foreign. 

Now, when I pass to the pictorial representations of this deity, I 
am at once in a position, strange as it may seem, to refer to such 
drawings in Mexican picture writing; and this is of special impor- 
tance, because there we are on more familiar ground. It is true, I 
am referring to manuscripts which doubtless originated in regions 
lying somewhat more to the south. The pictures to which I allude 
are taken from the Borgian, Vatican, and Fejervary codices. 

In each of these picture manuscripts there are a number of pages 
which invariably have four representations so combined that they 
form a whole, which, at the outset, leads us to conjecture that they 
were meant to correspond to the four cardinal points; that is, four 
periods of time coordinated with the cardinal points. In one of 
these representations (Borgian coclex, pages 66 to 63), we find a per- 
fect conglomerate of pictures on the four pages. In the others 
(Codex Vaticanus B, pages 65, 66; Bologna codex, pages 12, 13; 
Fejervary codex, pages 12, 11; Codex Vaticanus B, pages 72 to 75, 
and Fejervary codex, pages 4, 3) the separate representations seem 
to be copied to a certain extent from the above-mentioned pages of the 
Borgian codex. 

Pages 66 to 63 of the Borgian codex have in the center a tree which 
is growing from the body of a person and on which a bird is sitting. 
Above this there is a deity offering sacrifice. On the left is a ball- 
player, a pair in copulation, and a throne, upon which lies the head 
ornament of a deity, always that of the deity of the succeeding page. 
To the right, at the top, we have the felling or killing of an animal or 
of a mythologic figure ; below are Tzitzimime, figures plunging clown 
from heaven, and a god producing fire by friction. Dates of years 
and days are also given, the sum total of which is 52 years and 260 
days, that is, an entire cycle and a tonalamatl, divided into four equal 
parts. 

The principal deity, the one offering sacrifice, on the first page ig 
the sun god. This page may, therefore, correspond to the east. 
The god of the second page is the god of the earth, or of stone. 
He must correspond to the north. The chief deity on the third page 



236 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BtiLL. 28 




Pig. 49. Mexican figures of the bat god. 



seler] 



THE MAYA BAT GOD 



237 



is the maize god. He corresponds to the west. The one on the 
last page is the death god, who corresponds to the south. 

Among the figures on the first page at the right of the chief deity, 
in some degree expressive of the fatal qualities of the latter, and 
corres]3onding to the east, is the bat god beside the sun god. I repro- 
duce the pictures of the god in a to c, figure 49, where c is taken from 
the encyclopedic representation in the Borgian codex, page 66, while a 
and 5 belong to separate series which have been copied out of it. The 
fact that we are dealing with the bat god is here expressed by the wing 
membrane stretched between the legs and arms, the claws on the 
extremities, the sharp teeth, and particularly by the membranous 
nose leaf, which only in a is converted into a stone knife. The dark 
painting of the wing membrane and the death's-head upon it in a 
(instead of the crossbones of the Dieseldorff picture) especially 
remind us of the picture on the Dieseldorff vase. We are reminded 
of the functions of Cama-zotz, the death bat, by the head which the 




ic(0SSf 





h , c 

Fig. 50. Maya hieroglyphs of the bat god. 

beast has torn off and holds in his hand in a and b, while in c the 
beast devours the torn-out heart and the blood. It is worth noticino- 

to 

that m a and c the bat is drawn with the round cap and feather 
headdress of the wind god, while in h, in addition to the torn-off 
head, he grasps and stands upon a fire snake. 

I now turn to the documents of the Maya races. The Mayas, in the 
strict sense, the inhabitants of Yucatan, designated one of their 18 
uinals, that is, periods of 20 days, by the name of the bat-zotz (or zoo, 
according to Yucatec transcription) . From the Eelaciones of Bishop 
Landa and the Dresden manuscript I reproduce in h, figure 50, the 
picture of the bat as the designation of this period of time, which fell 
in the latter half of our September. That this designation was also 
known to the other Maya tribes we learn from the date (c, figure 50), 
compounded of the date of a day (8 Ahau) and a uinal date (the 8th 
of Zotz), which I copy from one of the Copan stelge as given in 
Maudslay's great worlv." In the same way the uinal Zotz is given, 
beyond a doubt, on the altar slabs of Palenque ; for instance, on the 



« Biologia Centrali-Americana. Archseology. 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



[bull. 28 



288 

alter dab of the Temple of the Cross, number 1 (according to Desire 
Charnay's designation), where A-16 and B^16, belonging together, 
give the combined date 1 Ahan, 13 Zotz. , , f tv,„ K»f and 

But I also think that I recognise the hieroglyphs of the bat god 
among a series of 20 deities represented in hieroglyphs on P^Sf- « to 
60 of the Dresden manuscript, accompanymg a period of 2X52 
years divided into five large sections, each of which is agam divrded 
fnto sections of 90, 250, 8, and 236 days. From this series of 20 deities 
5 are copied on page 24; they are those which, at regular intervals, 
™ the last pLe in each of the five divisions. In this way those 
seem to have bTen made prominent which are especially significant 







a 



Fig. 51. Maya hieroglypbs of the bat ,i;od. 



for each of the five divisions. Among them occurs the hieroglyph, 
which-with a note of interrogation, it is true-I claim as the hiero- 
.rlvphof the bat god (see a, figure 50). ..,.,,. , if 

I think that I also recognize the bat god m the initial hieroglyph of 
the ..roiip which I reproduce in «, figure 51. The character km, sun 
is beiore the mouth of the beast. With reference to a hieroglyph 
which I shall discuss later I am tempted to interpret it as a swallow- 
ine up of light, that is, an obscuring of the sun. . . 

Finally, ft has occurred to me that possibly the imtial hieroglyph 
of the two groups which I give in h, and which, on account of the 
p c ture accompanying it. I formeriy exphuned as the ^H* ° 
a bird of prey, may also refer to the bat. For we have here, as in the 



selbk] 



THE MAYA BAT GOD 



239 



hieroglyph of the uinal Zotz, the character akbal, " night ", over the 
eye, as an eyebrow. Even the bat ears and the wrinkled corner of the 
mouth seem to be present in the hieroglyph. Instead of the teeth, 
the hieroglyph of a stone knife is given here. This may indicate the 
creature's sharp teeth, while it may possibly also have a symbolic 
meaning. The stone knife symbolizes the power of the sun's beams to 
inflict injury. In Mexican representations the monster of the night 
swallows a stone knife. 

The bat is frequently met with on the Copan reliefs. An entire fig- 
ure of the deity, which I give in «, figure 52, can be recognized on altar 
T (Maudslay's nomenclature) a huge reptilian figure, with a head 





/Hia. T 



Pig. 52. Maya hieroglyphs of the bat god. 



resembling an alligator's and with hands, between whose outstretched 
fore and hind legs various deities or mythologic figures are rep- 
resented. The bat here begins the series of personages represented on 
the east side, while on the west side, opposite to it, a bird with speckled 
feathers and parrot like beak is the first of the series — possibly the 
cakix, the Arara, worshipped as a deity by the Ah-zotzil clan, " the 
bat people ", who were allied to the Cakchikels." 

The bat occurs with greatest frequency in a hieroglyph some forms 
of which I have given in a, figure 53. Besides the head of the bat, 
which is sometimes very characteristically reproduced, with its mem- 
branous nose leaf and hairy ear, the double element ben-ik is also 
present in this hieroglyph, which perhaps^for it also occurs with 



" Xahila's Cakchikel-Annalen, place cited, sec. 10. 



240 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



[BULL. 28 



Others in the hieroglyph of the sun god— is an expression of that 
which the Mayas designated by u pop u cam, and the Mexicans by 
i-petl-i-icpal, "his mat", "his (royal) seat", that is, for dominion. 
Lastly, there is yet another element present in the hieroglyph, which, 
taking other cases of its occurrence into consideration, I can only 
explain as a stream of blood flowing from the bat's mouth, derived 
from an element which I have shown to possess the phonetic value of 
kan " yellow ",« and to be used as a substitute for km, " sun ".^ In 
other words, I regard this element of the hieroglyph as nothing else 
than an expression of that characteristic of the bat god which is set 




/llior \i 



5".w 



J3 I 




Cojf Dreic/. 



Fig. 53. Maya hieroglyphs of the bat god. 

forth in the name Cama-zotz and in the pictures of the Mexican 
manuscripts, especially c, figure 49, that is, the destruction of life, the 
devouring of light. We are familiar with this element m other hiero- 
crlyphs, particularly in that of a god who is the fifth in the series of 
twenty deities in the Dresden manuscript, and who undoubtedly is a 
god of the earth (6, figure 53) . It has long since been remarked that 
the head of this deity reappears in the conventional sign tor he 
cardinal point of the north. But, while in the hieroglyph of the 
crod the head of the god is represented, according to my conception, 
as devouring light or life, in the hieroglyph of the cardinal point the 



« Zeitschrift fiir Ethnologie, V. 23, pp. 108-9. 



" Science, .January 6. 1893. 



SELEE] THE MAYA BAT GOD 241 

head of the god is combined with an open jaw, which is occasional!}" 
replaced by a stone knife, h. Hence the correspondence to which I 
allude above is also apparent here. 

In conclusion, I give in &, figure 52, a very remarkable form of this 
hieroglyph Avhich occurs on Stela D of Copan (Maudslay's nomen- 
clature) . This stela is peculiar inasmuch as the hieroglyphic elements, 
wdiich elsewhere are reproduced in conventional characters, are here 
carried out in full figure. This particular stela is, therefore, of the 
first importance as an aid to the discovery of the true meaning of tliese 
elements. In h, figure 52, the form of the bat, the nose leaf, and the 
wing membrane are distinctly recognizable. The element which I 
interj^ret as the devouring of light is indicated by a series of drops 
and a piece that looks like a ring cut out of a shell. This element, 
which answers to kan, or kin, also has the same form in the hiero- 
glyphs reproduced in «, figure 53. The Ben-Ik groujo is wanting 
in 5, figure 53, probabl}^ because it expresses onl}'' a secondary meaning. 

On the heads and the body in a, figure 52, as m several of the bat 
heads brought together in «, figure 53, the elements of the day sign 
Cauac are given, which in the last of the hieroglyphs in «, figure 53, 
is seen in full below the bat's ear. The character Cauac corresponds 
to the Mexican Quiauitl, " rain ", and to Ayotl, " the tortoise ", of the 
Guatemalan calendar. It combines within itself, as I have shown 
elsewhere,'^ the idea of opaque covering and of stone. 

We have in the vase excavated b}" Mr l^ieseldorfi* a very character- 
istic figure of the bat god. In this connection, I would like to mention 
th it the god described by Dieseldortf as having been found as a deco- 
ration on potter5% the god in the snail shell,^ does not answer to the 
old god, the sixteenth in the Dresden manuscript, but rather to the 
thi'd one of the gods represented on plates 4 to 10 of the Dresden 
manuscript. If I were still somewhat uncertain as to whether the bat 
god can be recognized among the five deities given in the hieroglyphs 
on page 24 of the Dresden manuscript, the god in the snail shell 
is unquestionably represented. As I am forced to conclude from the 
other places where it occurs that the latter god corresponds to the 
south, so the bat god, if he is really represented by hieroglyph «, figure 
50, must answer to the cardinal point of the east. This would form a 
fresh link and furnish another proof, either that even in slight details 
there existed a fundamental agreement between the mythic represen- 
tations of the Central American and Mexican peoples, or that with 
the calendar and everything connected with it an exchange or dis- 
semination of such mythic elements took place throughout the whole 
of the ancient cultural region. 



" Zeitschrift fiir Ethnologie, v. 23, p. 132. 

» Zeitschrift fiir Etlinologie, v. 25, Verhandlungen, 1893, pp. 379 and 548. 
7238— No. 28—05 16 



WALL PAINTINGS OF MITLA 

A MEXICAN PICTURE WRITING IN FRESCO 

BY 

EDUARD SELER. 



243 



CONTENTS 



Page 

Description of Mitla 347 

The ancient Zapotec countrj'- 258 

Unity of Mexican and Central American civilization 266 

Zapotec priesthood and ceremonials _- 275 

Deities and religious conceptions of the Zapotecs 284 

Explanation of the wall paintings 306 

245 



WALL PAINTINGS OF MITLA 



By Edijard Seler 



DESCRIPTION OF MITLA 

In the broad valley of Tlacolula, which, rising in a succession of 
terraces, inclosed by mountain ranges, and intersected by flat-topped 
ridges and isolated peaks, forms the eastern part of the wide and 
beautiful Valle de Oaxaca, lies the place which is called Yoopaa,^ or 
Lioo-baa, by the Zapotecs, and Mictlan by the Mexicans. It is situ- 
ated near the highest eastern end of the valley, at the foot of the 
mountain chain which separates it from the valley of Villa Alta and 
the mountainous regions of the Mixes. The -two names of this place 
have the same meaning, " burial place ", or " place of the dead ". It 
was the burial city of the Zapotec kings and priests. 

It was a custom among the Zapotecs and the kindred tribes, 
Mixtecs, Cuicatecs, and their neighbors, the Mixes, to bury their 
dead chiefs and nobles in caves. There was probably a double reason 
for this custom. Throughout the world caves have been looked upon 
as entrances to the interior of the earth, to the underworld, to the 
kingdom of the- dead. Among the Zapotecs and Mixtecs, however, 
there existed also the belief, which is met with among several other 
aboriginal tribes of America, that the ancestors of their race had 
risen from the inner depths of the earth to the light of the sun. 
Thus it was, in a certain way, the realm of the forefathers, their 
ancient home, in which they buried their dead when they laid them 
to rest in the sacred caves. 

-^ Wandmalereien von Mitla, eine mexikanischen Bilderschrift in fresko, nach eigenen an 
Ort und Stelle aufgenommenen Zeiohnungen, herausgegeben und erliiutert von Dr 
Bduard Seler. Berlin, 1895. The dedication may be translated as follows : To His 
Excellency the Duke of Loubat, the generous promoter of the infant science of the new 
continent, these results of earlier journeys and studies are gratefully dedicated by the 
author. Steglitz, July, 1895. 

t> Burgoa translates it Lugar de Descanso, " resting place ". Indeed the meaning "rest- 
ing ", " taking breath ", is contained in the root paa. For paa, and the allied form pee, 
means " breeze ", " wind ", " breath ", and the extended meaning " happiness ", " blessed- 
ness ", " peace ", " wealth ", can doubtless be traced back to this root. Paa also contains, 
by implication, the meaning " burial place " ; paa or queto-paa, sepultura, " tomb " ; paa- 
quie, sepultura de piedra, " stone tomb " ; paa-tao, sepultura labrada a poste, a " sepulcher 
made of posts " ; and it is perhaps most natural to accept this especial meaning here. 

247 



248 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

In the country of the Mixtecs the cave of Chalcatongo, situated 
on a high mountain, served as a burial place for their kings and 
great men, and Father Burgoa relates Avith indignation how, even 
in later Christian times, a cacique, esteemed by the priests for his 
godly life, accepted the last sacraments of the Christian Church and 
yet left behind him the behest that his earthly remains should be 
buried in that cave.*^ The extensive caves in the limestone moun- 
tains (whence came its names of Yoopaa and Mictlan) imparted to 
this place its sacred character and caused the Zapotecs to choose it for 
the burial place of their kings and priests. There were also smaller 
caves in the place, called Zeetoba, "second burial place ", or Queui- 
quije-zaa, " the palace on the rock " ; in Mexican, TeticjDac. It served 
as a burial place of the second (subordinate) rank. 

The peculiar notion connected with caves in specially favored 
situations, namely, that they indicated the places where the ancestors 
of the race had come forth from the earth, was, without doubt, 
the reason why Yoopaa, or Mictlan, was not only a burial place, 
but also the most important sanctuary of the countrj^ and the resi- 
dence of the high priest. He was called Uija-tao, " great prophet ", 
and was treated by the Zapotec kings, as Father Burgoa relates, 
with such submissive veneration and regarded as being so closely 
connected with the gods, being the direct distributor of their gracious 
gifts, as well as of their punishments, that the kings turned to him in 
all matters and in every need, and carried out his commands Avith the 
strictest obedience, even at the cost of their blood and their lives. '^ 

It was in keeping with the twofold significance of the place that 
here in Yoopaa, or Mictlan, the most important and magnificent 
edifices were erected, and that here every form of art was employed 
which the ancient inhabitants of this country could command. Mic- 
tlan was doubtless not the only place in the Zapotec country where 
magnificent buildings were to be foimd. A beautifully sculptured 
tomb has been discovered in Xoxo, not far from Oaxaca.'" Moreover 
on the mountain citadel of Tlacolula and in Teotitlan del Valle we 
have found fragments of wall facings of stone mosaic A'ery similar to 
the famous mosaics of Mitla which represent .geometric designs. 
There are undoubtedly similar buildings to be found in other parts of 
this country, which as yet has been little explored. The buildings 
of Mitla, however, have always been distinguished for their size, 
number, and magnificence, and we find in the very earliest reports 
enthusiastic and admiring descriptions of them. 

»P. Burgoa, Segiinda Parte de la Hisloria de la Provincia de Predicadores de Guaxaca, 
Vlexico, 1674, chap. 29. 

'' Burgoa, work cited, chap. 53. 

'' See the description in Compte rendu du Congrfes international des Americanistes, 7""^ 
session, Berlin, 1888, p. 126 et seq. There I have also given a small sketch of the tomb. 



SELBEi DESCEIPTION OF MITLA 249 

Father Torquemada writes : * 

When some monks of my order, the Franciscan, passed, preaching and shriv- 
ing, through the province of Zapoteca, whose capital city is Tehuantepec,* they 
came to a village which was called Mictlan. that is, " underworld ( hell ) ". Besides 
mentioning the large number of people in the village they told of buildings which 
were prouder and more magnificent than any which they Iiad hitherto seen in 
New Spain. Among them was a temple of the evil spirit and living rooms for 
his demoniacal servants, and among other fine things there was a hall with 
ornamented panels, which were constructed of stone in a variety of arabesques 
and other very remarkable designs. There were doorways there, each one of 
which was built of but three stones, two upright at the sides and one across 
them, in such a manner that, although these doorways were very high and broad, 
the stones sufficed for their entire construction. They were so tliicli and broad 
that we were assured there were few lilce them. There was another hall in 
these buildings, or rectangular temples, which was erected entirely on round 
stone pillars, very high and very thick, so thick that two grown men could scarcely 
encircle them with their arms, nor could one of them reach the finger tips of 
the other. These pillars were all in one piece and, it was said, the whole shaft 
of a pillar measured 5 ells from top to bottom, and they were very much like 
those of the church of Santa Maria iNTaggiore in Kome, very skillfully made and 
polished. 

Father Burgoa gives a more exact description.*' He says: 

The palace of the living and of the dead was built for the use of this one 
(the high priest of the Zapotecs). * * * They built this magnificent house 
or pantheon in the shape of a rectangle, with portions rising above the earth 
and portions built down into the earth, the latter in the hole or cavity which 
was found below the surface of the earth, and ingeniously made the chambers 
of equal size by the manner of joining them, leaving a spacious court in the 
middle ; and in order to secure four equal chambers they accomplished what 
barbarian heathen (as they were) could only achieve by the powers and skill of 
an architect. It is not known in what stone pit they quarried the pillars, 
which are so thick that two men can scarcely encircle them with their arms. 
These are, to be sure, mere shafts without capital or pedestal, but they are 
wonderfully regular and smooth, and they are aboiit 5 ells high and in one 
piece. These served to support the roof, which consists of stone slabs instead 
of beams. The slabs are about 2 ells long, 1 ell broad, and half an ell thick, 
extending from pillar to pillar. The pillars stand in a row, one behind the 
other, in order to receive the weight. The stone slabs are so regular and so 
exactly fitted that, without any mortar or cement at the joints, they resemble 
mortised beams. The four rooms, which are . very spacious, are arranged in 
exactly the same way and covered with the same kind, of roofing. But in the 
construction of the walls the greatest architects of the earth have been sur- 
passed, as I have not found this kind of architecture described either among 

" Monarquia Indiana, v. 3, chap. 29. 

" Without douht this refers to Father Martin de Valencia and his eight companions, 
who went to Tehuantepec to embark there for China, and who stayed at the former place 
seven months. Since they could obtain no ships, they went back to Mexico. See Moto- 
linia, Historia de los Indios de la Nueva Espaua, tratado 3, chap. 5 ; Mendieta, Historia 
Ecclesiastica Indiana, v. 4, chap. 10. In both places a description is given of the archi- 
tecture of Mitla, which corresponds in essential points with the description of Torquemada 
quoted above ; except that Mendieta calls the church in Rome Santa Maria la Redonda, 
and in Motolina this comparison is wholly wanting. 

' Work cited, chap. 53. That which he states, he says, he knows from old papers which 
have come into his hands and from traditions current among aged Indians. 



250 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

the Egyptians or among the Greeks ; for they begin at the base with a narrow 
outline and, as the structure rises in height, spread out in wide copings at 
the top, so that the upper part exceeds the base in breadth and loolis as if it 
would fall over. The inner side of the walls consists of a mortar or stucco of 
such hardness that no one knows with what kind of liquid it could have been 
mixed. The outside is of such extraordinary workmanship that ou a masonry 
wall about an ell in height there are placed stone slabs with a projecting edge, 
which form the support for an endless number of small white stones, the small- 
est of which are a sixth of an ell long, half as broad, and a quarter as thick, 
and which are as smooth and regular as if they had all come from one mold. 
They had so many of these stones that, setting them in, one beside the other, 
they formed with them a large number of different beautiful geometric designs, 
each an ell broad and running the whole length of the wall, each varying in 
pattern up to the crowning piece, which was the finest of all. And what has 
always seemed inexplicable to the greatest architects is the adjustment of 
these little stones without a single handful of mortar, and the fact that without 
tools, with nothing but hard stones and sand, they could achieve such solid work 
that,' though the whole structure is very old and no one knows who made it, 
it l^as been preserved until the present day. 

I carefully examined these monuments some thirty years ago in the chambers 
above ground, which are constructed of the same size and in the same way as 
those below ground and, though single pieces were in ruins because some stones 
had become loosened, there vras still much to admire. The doorways were very 
large, the sides of each being of single stones of the same thickness as the wall, 
and the lintel was made out of another stone which held the two lower ones 
together at the top. There were tour chambers above ground and four below. 
The latter M'ere arranged according to their purpose in such a way that one 
front chamber served as chapel and sanctuary for the idols, which were placed 
on a great stone which served as an altar. And for the more important feasts 
which they celebrated with sacrifices, or at the burial of a king or great lord, 
the high priest instructed the lesser priests or the subordinate temple officials 
who served him to prepare the chapel and his vestments and a large quantity 
of the incense used by them. And then he descended with a great retinue, 
while none of the common people saw him or dared to look in his face, convinced 
that if they did so they would fall dead to the earth as a punishment for their 
boldness. And when he entered the chapel they put on him a long white cot- 
ton garment made like an alb, and over that a garment shaped like a dalmatic, 
which was embroidered with pictures of wild beasts and birds ; and they put a 
cap on his head, and on his feet a kind of shoe woven of many colored feathers. 
And when he had put on these garments he walked with solemn mien and 
measured step to the altar, bowed low before the idols, renewed the incense, 
and then in quite unintelligible nuirnuu-s (muy entre dientes) he began to con- 
verse with these images, these depositories of infernal spirits, and continued 
in this sort of prayer with hideous grimaces and writhings, uttering inarticu- 
late sounds, which filled all present with fear and terror, till he ^ame out of 
that diabolical trance aud told those standing around the lies and fabrications 
which the spirit had imparted to him or which he had invented himself. When 
human beings were sacrificed the ceremonies were multiplied, and the assist- 
ants of the high priest stretched the victim out upon a large stone, baring his 
breast, which they tore open with a great stone knife, while the body writhed in 
fearful convulsions and they laid the heart bare, ripping it out, and with it the 
soul, which the devil took, while they carried the heart to the high priest that 
he n'light offer It to the idols by holding it to their mouths, among other cere- 
monies ; and the body was thrown into the burial place of their '^ blessed ", as 



BURFAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



BULLETIN 28 PLATE XXII 



Palacf I 




CHUf?CM 



Palace m 



HoRrHETRN f^RM or ptiyj^p^ 



VlLl.^&E■ 







^Q 



QCD TrMPLET 
s/fii] fYRA^^ID 



PLAN OF MITLA RUINS. OAXACA 



SELER] DESCRIPTION OF MITLA 251 

they called them. And if after the sacrifice he felt inclined to detain those who 
begged any favor he sent them word by the subordinate priests not to leave 
their houses till their gods were appeased, and he commanded them to do pen- 
ance meanwhile, to fast and to speak with no woman, so that, until this father 
of sin had interceded for the absolution of the penitents and had declared the 
gods appeased they did not dare to cross their thresholds. 

The second (underground) chamber was the burial place of these high priests, 
the third that of the kings of Theozapotlan, whom they brought thither richly 
di-essed in their best attire, feathers, jewels, golden necklaces, and precious 
stones, placing a shield in the left band and a javelin in the right, just as they 
used them in war. And at their burial rites great mourning prevailed; the 
instruments which were played made mournful sounds; and with loud wailing 
and continuous sobbing they chanted the life and exploits of their lord until 
they laid him on the structure which they had prepared for this purpose. 

The last (underground) chamber had a second door at the rear, which led to 
a dark and grewsome room. This was closed with a stone slab, which occupied 
the whole entrance. Through this door they threw the bodies of the victims 
and of the great lords and chieftains who had fallen in battle, and they brought 
them from the spot where they fell, even when it was very far off, to this burial 
place ; and so great was the barbarous infatuation of these Indians that, in the 
belief of the happy life which awaited them, many who were oppressed by dis- 
eases or hardships begged this infamous priest to accept them as living sacri- 
fices, and allow them to enter through that portal and roam about in the dark 
interior of the mountain, to seek the great feasting places of their forefathers. 
And when anyone obtained this favor the servants of the high priest led him 
thither with special ceremonies, and after they had allowed him to enter through 
the small door they rolled the stone before it again and took leave of him, and 
the unhappy man, wandering in that abyss of darkness, died of hunger and 
thirst, beginning already in life the pain of his damnation ; and on account of 
this horrible abyss they called this village Liyobaa. 

When later there fell upon these people the light of the Gospel, its servants 
took much trouble to instruct them and to find out whether this error, common 
to all these nations, still prevailed, and they learned from the stories which had 
been handed down that all were convinced that this damp cavern extended 
more than 30 leagues underground, and that its roof was supported by 
pillars. And there were people, zealous prelates anxious for knowledge, who. 
in order to convince these ignorant people of their error, went into this cave 
accompanied by a large number of people bearing lighted torches and fire- 
brands, and descended several large steps. And they soon came upon many 
great buttresses which formed a kind of street. They had prudently brought 
a quantity of rope with them to use as guiding lines, that they might not lose 
themselves in this confusing labyrinth. And the putrefaction and the bad odor 
and the dampness of the earth were very great and there was also a cold wind 
which blew out their torches. And after they had gone a short distance, fearing 
to be overpowered by the stench or to step on poisonous reptiles, of which some 
had been seen, they resolved to go out again and to completely wall up this 
back door of hell. The four buildings above ground were the only ones which 
still remained open, and they had a court and chambers like those underground ; 
and the ruins of these have lasted even to the present day. 

One of the rooms above ground was the palace of the high priest, where he 
sat and slept, for the apartment offered room and opportunity for everything. 
The throne was like a high cushion with a high back to lean against, all of tiger 
skin, stuffed entirely with delicate feathers or with fine grass which was used 



252 BUEEAU OF AMERICAN" ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

for this purpose. The other seats were smaller, even when the king came to 
visit him. The authority of this devilish priest was so great that there was no 
one who dared to cross the court, and to avoid this the other thi-ee chambers 
had doors in the rear, through which even the kings entered. For this purpose 
they had alleys and passageways on the outside above and below, by which 
people could enter and go out when they came to see the high priest. 

These priests never married, nor did they hold intercourse with women. 
Only, at certain feasts, which they celebrated with great banqueting and much 
drunkenness, the kings brought to them the unmarried daughters of the chief- 
tains, and if one of these became pregnant she was taken to a retired spot until 
her coniinement, so that if a son should be born he could be brought up as the 
successor of the priest in his office, for this succession always fell to the son or 
nearest relative and was never elective. 

The second chamber above ground was that of the priests and the assistants 
of the high priests. The third was that of the king when he came. The fourth 
was that of the other chieftains and captains, and though the space was small 
for so great a number and for so many different families, yet they accommodated 
themselves to each other out of respect for the place and avoided dissensions 
and factions. Furthermore, there was no other administration of justice in this 
place than that of the high priest, to whose unlimited power all bowed. 

All the rooms were clean and well furnished with mats. It was not the cus- 
tom to sleep on bedsteads, however great a lord might be. They used very taste- 
fully braided mats, which were spread on the floor, and soft skins of animals 
and delicate fabrics for coverings. Their food consisted usually of animals 
killed in the hunt; deer, rabbits, armadillos, etc., and also birds, which they 
killed with snares or arrows. The bread, made of their maize, was white and 
well kneaded. Their drinks were always cold, made of ground chocolate, which 
was mixed with water and pounded maize. Other drinks were made of pulpy 
and of crushed fruits, which were then mixed with the intoxicating drink pre- 
pared from the agave, for since the common people were forbidden the use of 
intoxicating drinks, there was always an abundance of these on hand. 

This entire account of Mitla [the father adds in conclusion! was added to 
his history that he might be faithful to his promise, and although these things 
were, of course, full of superstition and impious error, still they were the most 
important and intelligent manifestations of this nation which had fallen under 
his observation. 

I have translated and quoted this passage at length because it con- 
tains the account of an eyewitness who saw the monuments when the,y 
were still in a tolerably intact condition, furnished still with the roof, 
which is now entirely gone; because this passage is the only one I 
know of, dating from ancient times, which gives an explanation con- 
cerning the purpose and significance of the different buildings; and 
because the book from which the quotation is taken is extremely rare. 
In spite of much inquiry, I have heard of no library in Germany or 
Austria which contains the work. 

The position of the buildings as they stand to-day is seen on the 
plan given in plate xxii. This is drawn, according to a plan made 
by the well-known architect, PI Miihlenpfordt, in the year 1831, with 
the addition of some details which were added from the results of per- 
sonal observations and aftei- a recent drawing bv Mr J. Leon. It is 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



BULLETIN 28 PLATE XXIII 



NOB.TH 



VVE5T 




GROUND PLAN OF PALACE I, MITLA 



SELBE] DESCEIPTION OF MITLA 253 

seen that there are in all three groups of the principal buildings, 
which extend in a slight curve from the height down to the river. I 
have numbered the first I. For practical reasons I have numbered 
the second II and III. The third is designated IV. Inside the arc 
formed by these groups of buildings, but not near the center, lies a 
terraced pyramid, an ancient temple without doubt, which serves now 
as a cemetery and has a chapel on its upper platform. A court 
formed by broad, rampartlike elevations lies behind it. On the other 
side of the river there is a similar, smaller pyramid with several 
courts formed by rampartlike elevations. 

Each of the three chief groups of buildings, I, II-III, and IV, 
consists of a main building and an adjoining building (see the ground 
plan of palace I, plate xxiii). The main structure has a courtyard 
lying according to the four points of the compass, inclosed on three 
sides by buildings. Of these, the one situated on the north side of 
the court is the largest and most beautifully finished, and is con- 
nected by means of a narrow angular passage with a smaller adjoin- 
ing court, which is surrounded on all four sides by narrow, corridor- 
like chambers, and is completely closed from the outside. 

The position of the adjoining building varies somewhat. While 
in I it lies directly in front of the main building, those of III and IV 
lie a little to one side. These adjoining buildings also surround three 
sides of a court whose four sides face the four points of the compass. 
While, however, in the main buildings, the south side of the court 
remains open, in the adjoining buildings that is the case only in IV, 

I and III being open toward the west. 

The church and the priest's house are built into palace I. Palace 

II is the best preserved and the most beautiful. It contains in the 
principal room, situated on the north side of the court, the row of six 
large monolithic pillars, which have always been considered the most 
remarkable proof of the technical skill of the ancient Zapotecs. As 
jDalace IV lies nearest the village it has been most despoiled, in order 
to furnish stones and other building materials for the huts of the 
present village. Only a few remains of masonry scattered about the 
garden are now left of this palace. 

If an attempt is made to identify the still remaining buildings 
after Burgoa's description, a certain difficulty arises at the very 
outset. Burgoa speaks of " four chambers " (quadras) or " halls " 
(salas), and says that remains of them had been found partlj^ above 
ground (altos) and partly underground (bajos), and that the former 
were like the latter in size and the manner of their decoration. 

He furthermore says that one of the chambers found under- 
ground, the front one, had been a temple, sacrarium, or place for 
keeping the idols; another had served as burial place for the high 
priest; the third as the tomb of the kings and nobles of the realm; 



254 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bolt.. 28 

and the fourth had been connected with the great cave, whither they 
were accustomed to bring the bodies of the victims of sacrifice and 
of the chiefs who had fallen in battle. The chambers found above 
ground, he said, had served as dwellings, one for the high priest, the 
second for the rest of the priesthood, the third for the king, and the 
fourth for the families of the nobles who came to Mitla in the retinue 
of the king. 

Here, first of all, it is clear that " quadras " or "salas " could not 
have been used to designate the entire groups of buildings forming 
the palaces, for there are only three, not four, of these. Furthermore, 
we can not take literallj^ the statement that the underground cham- 
bers were exactly like those above ground in the manner of decora- 
tion and in size. The only building in which a crypt has been 
preserved, or rather excavated, is the larger eastern building of III. 
Here, however, the crypt does not have the form of the chamber 
above ground. The latter is an oblong rectangle in shape. The 
crypt is built in the shape of a cross, exactly like the crypt which was 
discovered in the village of Xaaga, three-fourths of a league from 
Mitla, and can still be seen. I think that Burgoa's statements refer 
only to the diif erent parts of one group of palace buildings ; and there 
seems to be the greatest probability that Burgoa had in mind group 
II-III. In this one the hall with pillars lying on the north side of 
the main court of II might have formed, with its adjoining court, 
the dwelling of the high priest, the Uija-tao, and under it must 
have been the crypt that was " in front ", where the idols stood and 
where the high priest received his inspirations. The building situ- 
ated on the west side of the main court might have contained, above, 
the living rooms for the priesthood and, below, the burial place for 
the high priest. The building situated opposite, on the east side, 
might have been the dwelling and burial place of the king. We may 
probably consider the whole of palace III as the building where the 
majority of the nobles were quartered and where, at the rear of the 
crypt of the main building, a door led into the cave already described. 
Then this entrance would have been directly opposite the pyramid, 
on whose upper platform the sacrifices were doubtless performed. 

If this is the case, we must consider the three palace groups as 
undoubtedly constructed on a uniform plan, the individual buildings 
being designed for exactly similar purposes. We must, then, neces- 
sarily conclude further that there was in Mitla not one high priest 
only, but that besides him, perhaps subordinated to him, there 
must have been at least two other chief priests. This conclusion, 
however, is not unnatural or forced. On the contrary, this idea is 
very readily suggested by a comparison with the corresponding 
conditions in the capital, Mexico. Besides, Burgoa speaks plainly 
in another place of several high priests, I^ija-tao, whoui the king of 



SELER] DESCRIPTION OF MITLA 255 

Tehuan tepee, Cocijo-i^ij, had summoned to him from Mictlan.« We 
also know that the " Zapotecos Serranos ", who lived on the other 
side of the mountains, in the forest valleys of Villa Alta, had their 
special priests.^ 

The appearance which the outer and inner fagades of these palaces 
present, with their projections and courses of coping and the wonder- 
ful ornamentation produced by geometric designs executed in raised 
stonework, is shown by the photographs which are reproduced on 
plates XXV to xxx. The pictures were taken in 1890 by order of the 
commission of the state of Oaxaca for the world's exposition in Paris. 
The number of designs in the panels of the wall is limited. Those 
which my wife and I observed in Mitla are reproduced in plates xxxi 
and XXXII from original drawings by my wife. A few additional 
designs are reproduced there which we saw in the crypt of Xaaga and 
in the neighborhood of the utterly ruined temple of Xaquie, or Teo- 
titlan del Valle. As to the technic of these designs, one might think, 
according to Burgoa's description quoted above, that they were 
formed of small stones which had been set in a mass of stucco. That 
is by no means the case. The blocks, cut out of a light-colored 
tufaceous stone, laid one upon the other, form the outer and inner 
surface of the thick walls, which consist chiefly of mortar. They 
were sculptured on the outer side, perhaps even in their present posi- 
tion, in such a manner that a single stone of this kind shows on its 
exterior face a sunken and a projecting surface, the lines of demarca- 
tion running in steps, zigzag lines, or curves, according to the nature 
of the design of which they are a part. With this method of con- 
struction it is plain that no single portion can crumble and become 
detached, and therefore the patterns are still, in the main, as clear 
and unchanged as they were centuries ago. The height of the pro- 
jection above the sunken plane, which averages about 3 cm., and the 
extraordinarily sharp and perpendicular outline between the raised 
parts and the background cause the patterns to stand out with 
remarkable clearness and distinctness. In the background we find 
everywhere traces of red coloring, while the raised parts seem to have 
been left white, aifn inference also to be drawn from Burgoa's descrip- 
tion, where he speaks of " small white stones ". I need hardly jDoint 
out that this contrast of color must have enhanced the effect of the 
pattern still more. 

Now, while the exterior aspect of these palaces and the ornamenta- 

" Burgoa, work cited, chap. 72 : Llevando de el gran adoratorio de Mictia los sacerdotes 
mayores como pontifices, k quienes Ilaman Huija-too, en su lengua, que quiere dezir 
" grande atalaya y el que lo ve todo " y otros sacerdotes menores que Ilaman copa vitoo 
" guarda de los Dioses " ("Bringing from the great temple of Mictia the high priests 
as pontifices, whom they call in their language Huija-too, which means ' great guard and 
he who sees all ', and other lesser priests whom they call copa vitoo, ' guardians of the 
gods ' "). 

" Burgoa, work cited, chap. 56. 



256 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

tion in raised geometric designs have been frequently depicted and 
described in former times, few of the authors who have hitherto 
written about Mitla have paid special attention to the frescoes 
which were over the middle door of each side of the adjacent courts, 
and portions of which are still to be seen. A manuscript atlas by 
the German architect E. Miihlenpfordt, which is preserved in the 
Institute Publico at Oaxaca and has been reproduced in Peiiafiel's ^ 
great illustrated publication, is the only work in which, together 
with exact ground plans and elevations of the palaces, specimens are 
to be found of the mural paintings from each of the two courts 
where these paintings exist. It was Mr Pehafiel who called my 
attention to these paintings, and I devoted eleven days during my 
stay in Mitla with my wife, in June, 1888, to copying them, as far 
as they were still visible, so as to rescue, in sketches at least, what 
was still to be saved. The originals themselves will scarcely with- 
stand much longer the effects of the weather and the consequences of 
neglect. Just a few months before my arrival in Mitla a large and 
essential part of the paintings was knocked clown incident to the 
important building of a pigsty in the court of the first palace, which 
has served for a long time and still serves as the stable of the priest's 
dwelling. The rest of the paintings are everywhere crumbling. 

The paintings are found, as has been mentioned, in the closed 
courtyards adjoining the palaces, which are accessible only by means 
of a narrow, angular passageway leading from the main building. 
Each side of these courts (compare the elevation on plate xxiv) has 
a doorway in the center and, over it, a narrow, rectangular, recessed 
panel. Then follows a narrow, sunken band which extends the 
whole length of the wall. Over this again there are three broader 
and shorter recesses cut into the wall, the middle one of which 
projects beyond the two on the sides. The doors in the center lead 
to narrow gallaries which surround the court on the four sides. On 
the south wall of the court, at one side of the princijjal doorway, is 
the opening of the angular passageway which joins the principal 
chamber of the corresponding palace with this closed adjoining 
court. The north wall of the adjacent court of palace I has three 
main entrances instead of one, and above these stretches evenly the 
narrow recessed panel considerably lengthened. The three upper 
shorter and broader recesses on all four sides of the court are filled 
with the characteristic geometric designs executed in raised stone- 
work. The lower narrow, recessed panels directly over the doorway 
have a coating of fine stucco, and it is this which is covered with 
paintings, in which the white figures contrast with the painted red 
backtrround. 



"Pefiaflt;, VIonumentos del Arte Mexicano Antiguo, Berlin, 1890, atlas II, lamina 
212—227. 













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sblhe] DESCEIPTION OF MITLA 257 

In the second palace, the largest and best preserved, there is now 
absolutely nothing to be seen of these paintings. Nevertheless, be- 
yond a doubt there were some here also, for the stucco coating, on 
which the paintings were executed in the other palaces, can be recog- 
nized here also in the narrow recessed panels over the doors. In the 
court adjoining the fourth palace, which is situated nearest to the 
riA^er, the two side walls and the lower part of the third are still pre- 
served. On the east side there may still be recognized in the narrow 
recessed panels the upper edge of the painting with the beautiful bor- 
der, reproduced (fragment 1) on the first plate. The four fragments 
of painting which are reproduced under numbers 2 to 5 on this plate 
belong to the north side of this court. All the rest of the painting 
which is preserved belongs to the court adjoining the palace, which 
has the most elevated position, namely palace I. This palace has been 
turned into a priest's dwelling since the country was won over to 
Christianity, and in the midst of its buildings rises the church of San 
Pablo de Mitla. The adjoining court is used, according to a long- 
established custom, as a stable. The animals wander freely about the 
court, and against one of the sides a manger of masonry has been 
built under a protecting board roof. Both structures are very desir- 
able for the welfare of the animals, but they have been fatal to the 
paintings, for the posts which support the penthouse have been 
driven into the wall. A part of the painting has also been entirely 
walled in for the construction of the manger. Finally, as I have 
already mentioned, a pigsty has very recently been built against the 
north side of the court. That could likewise not be done without 
serious injury to the painting. On the other hand, we must be just 
and recognize that perhaps the very reason why the paintings have 
been still so largely preserved in this portion of these historic remains 
is because this court, as a part of the parsonage, has been withdrawn 
from general observation and use; that is, from general exploitation 
and demolition. 

Before I turn to the description and explanation of these pictures, 
it seems to me to be appropriate to put together from existing sources 
what is known concerning the nature and character of the religious 
conceptions of the Zapotecs. 
7238— No. 28—05 17 



THE ANCIENT ZAPOTEC COUNTEY 

Only very scant information has come down to us concerning the 
ancient Zapotec country. The Mexicans were evidently very little 
in touch with its inhabitants. Not even the name of the Zapotecs is 
mentioned in any one of the lists of nations which were compiled by 
the historians of ancient Mexico. There were always other tribes 
between them and the Mexicans, and these bounded the ethnic horizon, 
at least from the current Mexican point of view ; nor did the other- 
wise well-informed Mexican who gave Father Sahagun an account 
" of all the tribes which came into this country to settle here " men- 
tion the Zapotecs. He gives a detailed account of the tribes adjacent 
to the Mexicans, and gives very interesting information concerning 
some of the northern nations, but of the southern he mentions ex- 
pressly only the Couixca, Tlapaneca, and Yopi. All the rest appear 
to be classed under the head of nations " living at the rising of the 
sun", whom he designates as Olmeca Uixtotin Mixteca, and also as 
Olmeca Uixtotin Nonoualca, or simply as Anahuaca, " maritime 
people ". 

The great trading expeditions first brought the Mexicans in touch 
with the Zapotec tribes, and these expeditions were directed first and 
foremost to the Atlantic tierra caliente. Tuxtepec, on the Rio 
Papaloapan, was the first large trading post. The next points to be 
reached were Tabasco and Xicalango. The latter was the great cen- 
ter where the merchants assembled from all parts of the Central 
American world and from which led the commercial highways to 
Chiapas, Soconusco, and Guatemala, up the Usumacinta, and across 
the country to the Golfo Dulce and to Honduras, finally northward 
by way of Champoton and Campeche to the more thickly populated 
portions of the peninsula of Yucatan. The Mexican merchants seem 
already to have found the road to Xicalango in early times and to 
have made use of it. Perhaps they even pressed on farther from that 
point at an early period. The various swarms of Mexican popula- 
tion which we find diffused far toward the south, almost to the Isth- 
mus, appear to have taken this route. It was not until a compara- 
tively late date, however — and for this there exists positive proof— that 
the Mexicans succeeded in pushing forward to the Pacific tierra 
caliente, the fertile plains of Tehuantepec, the region of Zapotec 
expansion, and then only after the partial subjugation of the Zapotec 
tribes by the united strength of the states of the Mexican table-land. 
At an early period, when Mexican commerce was directed mainly 
to ihe Atlantic tierra caliente, a permanent Mexican settlement was 
258 



seler] 



THE ANCIENT ZAPOTEC GOUNTKY 



259 



already made in the Zapotec region. Tradition relates that in the wild 
forests of Mictlanqiiauhtla some inhabitants of the city of Uaxyacac 
murderously attacked and plundered a Mexican caravan which was 
returning home from Tabasco with costly goods, the news of which 
did not reach the Mexicans until years later. The king who was 
then reigning, Motecuhzoma the elder, surnamed Ilhuicamina, 
equipped an expedition to avenge the deed, and the crime was 
atoned by the extermination of the entire tribe. A number of Mexi- 
can families and about 600 families from neighboring cities situ- 
ated in the valle}^ of Mexico started out to settle the vacant lands of 
the exterminated tribe, under the leadership of four Mexican chief- 
tains whom the king had chosen for this expedition. They proceeded 
but slowly, and at every halting place a few remained behind. When 
Uaxyacac Avas finally reached, the lands were divided among the colo- 
nists, to the great satisfaction of the tribes living in the vicinity, ac- 
cording to a remarkable statement in 
the chronicle. The people of Quauh- 
tochpan, Tuxtepec, and Teotitlan, 
who " were on the coasts of Uaxya- 
cac ", that is, bordered on Uaxyacac, 
were especially pleased.'* 

Assault and assassination of Mexi- 
can merchants are almost always men- 
tioned as the casus belli in the native 
records. It seems very probable 
that in this case these really were 
the actual cause of war. It is at any 
rate obvious from the above story 
that the permanent settlement of 
Mexicans in Uaxyacac was a conse- 
quence of the commercial intercourse which the Mexicans maintained 
with Tabasco, and that it was made in order to insure the safety of 
this intercourse. On the road to Tabasco lay also the three cities 
which are named in the report above quoted as those which w^ere 
especially pleased at this new settlement. 

Up to the time of the Spaniards, the Mexicans were thus settled in 
the immediate neighborhood of the Zapotec roj^al city, in the original 
and hereditary seat of the Zapotec nation. This colony was always 
looked upon by the Mexican kings as an important place. It was un- 
der the special control of two high Mexican officials bearing the titles 
Tlacatectli and Tlacochtectli (see figure 54, from the Mendoza codex, 
page 16), and doubtless had the character of a military colony. In 
the new order of affairs arising out of the Spanish conquest, the inhab- 
itants of this Mexican village were allotted to the newly founded 




Fig. 54. Symbols from the Mendoza 
codex. 



" Tezozomoc, Cronica Mesicana, chap. 39. 



260 BUKEAU OF AMERTCAAT ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

Spanish city Segiira de la Frontera, or Antequera, as it was later 
called. So it chanced that the old native name of this Mexican vil- 
lage, which means '' at the hill of algarobas ''\°- was transferred, with 
a somewhat changed pronunciation, as Oaxaca or Oajaca, to the Span- 
ish city, and now not only this city is called by that name, but the 
Avhole state whose territory is governed from this city. 

The existence of a Mexican colony in the midst ot Zapotec territory 
naturally implied a certain restraint, the recognition, in fact, of the 
superior power of the Mexicans. Therefore it does not seem remark- 
able that in the tribute list of the Mexican kings various neighboring 
Zapotec cities were named, besides Uaxyacac, which had to pay tribute 
to the capital, Mexico. The tribute consisted chiefly of fine textiles, 
besides which a certain quantity of cereals, 20 gold disks, and 20 small 
sacks of cochineal had to be furnished.'' This fact, however, must 
by no means be interpreted to mean that the Mexicans exercised 
authority over the entire Zapotec country. It can not even be said 
that the cities which are named in the list were subject directly to 
Mexican rule. For there are among them those which we know cer- 
tainly to have been under the sovereignty of the Zapotec kings, as 
Etla, which was called by the Zapotecs Loo-uanna, " place of pro- 
visions ", the city of Teticpac, already mentioned above, and the Zap- 
otec frontier station Quauhxilotitlan, now San Pablo Huitzo.'^ This 
relation is probably best explained by assuming that the Zapotec cities 
named on page 46 of the Mendoza codex agreed to the payment of 

" The hieroglyph of the city given ahove in fig. 54 shows the conventional drawing of a 
mountain (tepetl), which is frequently simply an expression of the fact that the com- 
posite sign represents a hieroglyphic picture of a place name. On the mountain is seen 
an algaroba tree (uaxin), recognized by the great fruit pods (edible) with wavy edges, 
growing out of the nose (yacatl) of a human face. The "nose" signifies also in an 
extended meaning, " point ", " projection ", " front ". The Tlacatectli is designated in 
fig. 54 by the royal headband of the Mexicans in turquoise mosaic ; the Tlacochtectli, 
by a similar headband with the shaft of an arrow in it. 

The name Uaxyacac is plainly Mexican. The city is called by the Zapotecs, Mixtecs, 
Cuicatecs, Chinantecs, and Mixes, by other names, namely Luhu-laa, Nuhu-ndua, Naha- 
nduva, Ni-cuhui, Uac-uim, but all of these have about the same meaning, namely, " at 
the point oC algarobas " or " at the place of algarobas ". Naturally, it can no longer be 
settled whether these names are translations of the Mexican name or whether the latter, 
on the other hand, was a translation of an original Zapotec name. 

'' Mendoza codex, pi. xlvi. 

«■ The names of this place have undergone several changes in meaning. The Mexican name 
Quauhxilotitlan means " among the quauhxilotes ", or " among trees whose (edible) fruit 
has the form of a young ear of maize "'. This name appears already at an early period to 
have been changed into Guaxolotitlan by defective and faulty pronunciation. Burgoa uses 
it in this form. According to that, Gracida explains the name as " place of the guajo- 
lotes ", that is, of the turkeys, in his otherwise very useful little book, Catiilogo Etimolo- 
gico de los Nombres, etc., de Oaxaca. The place was called by the Zapotecs Uiya-zoo, 
" espier of the enemy ", because it served as an outpost on the frontier and commanded 
the great Canada, the principal road communicating with the Mexican highlands. This 
old Zapotec name can be plainly recognized by the manner in which I myself heard it pro- 
nounced on the spot, namely, Uizo. The official spelling of the name, Huitzo, refers it 
back incorrectly to a Mexican root, uitz-tli, " thorn ". 



seler] 



THE ANCIENT ZAPOTEC COUNTEY 261 



certain contributions to the Mexicans in order to remain unmolested 
by them. 

The settlement of the Mexicans in Uaxyacac is said to have occurred 
under the rule of the elder Motecuhzoma; that is, in the period 
between about 1440 and 1470 A. D. That would be about a hundred 
years after the period in which, as Father Burgoa says, the Zapotecs 
spread toward the south and began to conquer the fruitful coast strips 
of Jalapa and Tehuantepec." The account which Father Burgoa 
gives of this conquest, derived from the narratives of the Zapotecs, is 
far from clear and its details are scarcely credible. The conquest is 
said to have been made wath the assistance of Mixtec allies. The Zapo- 
tecs, it is said, met Mexican hosts there side by side with the Huave, 
a tribe which had emigrated from the south and which at that time 
inhabited the entire coast strip of that region, the fertile and produc- 
tive territory of Tehuantepec being habitually used by the Mexicans 
as a resting place and rendezvous for the expeditions sent out to con- 
quer Guatemala. The Zapotec king is said to have then held the 
Mexican forces in check in a mountain fastness by the river of 
Tehuantepec — only the Quiengola can be meant from the descrip- 
tion — and to have done them so nnich harm that the Mexican king 
(Burgoa still speaks only of Motecuhzoma) was obliged to consent to 
a cessation of hostilities and an arrangement,'' 

This account, as has been said, is not at all authentic. It confuses 
earlier events with later ones and recognizes, naturally, only the 
glorious deeds of the Zapotecs. The settlement of the Pacific coast 
strip must indeed have occurred a long time before the Mexicans 
entered this territory; for, as the most reliable sources unite in 
stating, it was not until the time of Auitzotl, that is, at the very 
end of the fifteenth century, that the Mexicans extended their, 
expeditions into this Pacific coast district, the Anauac Ayotlan, the 
'• coast land of Ayotlan ", as the Mexicans called it. The advance 
post of the Mexicans in Uaxyacac probably afforded the rallying 
point for these Mexican enterprises. The motive for these expedi- 
tions was also without doubt commercial advancement. The mer- 
chants boasted of having alone set on foot and carried through these 
expeditions.*^ 

The operations began, it seems, with attacks upon the cities of 
the Zapotec country proper, the Valle de Oaxaca. According to the 

« Burgoa, work cited, chap. 71 : Y de suerte se apooeraron les Zapotecos de mSs de 
300, anos a esta parte en su gentilidad, que llenaron todos los sitios acomodados de 
pobiaciones ("So that more than 300" years ago the Zapotecs conquered this country in 
their paganism, and filled all the convenient sites with towns"). Since Father Burgoa 
wrote about the middle of the seventeenth century, we may consider the middle of the 
fourteenth century as the date of this conquest. 

■> Burgoa, work cited, chap. 72. 

"^ See Sahagun, v. 9, chap. 2. 



262 



BUREAU OF AMERICAlSr ETHNOLOGY 



[BULL. 28 



interpreter of the Coclex Telleriano-Remensis, the Mexicans sub- 
jugated " the city of Mictla in the province of Huaxaca " in the 
year 2 Tochtli, or A. D. 1494, and " the city of Teotzapotlan, which 
was the capital of the province of Huaxaca '', in the year 3 Acatl, or 
A. D. 1495. This information is interesting because mention is 
made here of the conquest or destruction of the Zapotec city of 
priests and tombs, Yoopaa, or Mictlan, by the Mexicans in pre- 
Spanish times. The picture writing itself * does not entirely agree 
with this interpretation. In it only the conquest of Uaxyacac and 
Teotzapotlan — which may refer, of course, to the entire province, 
that is, to the whole valley — is expressed by the hieroglyphs of these 
two names and a prisoner of war adorned for the sacrificio gladia- 
torio (figure 55), 




Fig. 55. Symbols from the Codex Telleriano-Remensis. 

In the coast land the expeditions doubtless extended through sev- 
eral years, for the subjugation of the cities of the coast land is not 
reported until the year -5 Calli, or A. D. 1497, and in this report 
Chimalpahin, Codex Vatican us A, and Historia Mexicana of the 
Aubin-Goupil collection agree. Chimalpahin '' mentions Xochitlan, 
Amaxtlan, and Tehuantepec as the cities which were conquered in 
this year by the Mexicans. Codex Vaticanus A " and Historia 

" Part 4, pi. 22. The name TJaxyacac is expressed here simply by the picture of the 
algaroba tree ; the name Teotzapotlan, by the picture of the sapodilla tree. 

"Aiiales de Domingo Francisco de San Anton Munon Chimalpahin QuauhtleLuianitzin. 
Ed. R6mi Simeon, I'aris, 1889, pp. 10 and 1G7. 

•^ Codex Vaticanus A, page 127. Amaxtlan is expressed by the combination of a breech- 
cloth (maxtlatl) and the sign for water (atl), which are to be seen on the conventional 
painting of the mountain. Xochitlan is expressed by a flower (Xochitl) and an undeter- 
mined element, which is perhaps intended to represent a row of teeth (tlantli). The 
battle is represented in the former city, the Victory in the latter. 



sblub] 



HE ANCIENT ZAPOTEC COUNTRY 



263 



Mexicana of the Aubin collection " mention only Xochitlan and 
Amaxtlan (figures 56 and 57). According to the accounts of the 
Mexican merchants, which are preserved for us in the work of Father 
Sahagun,^ this expedition to Tehuantepec was an independent enter- 
prise of the great merchants of Mexico, Tlatelolco, and the other 
allied cities. They were besieged four years, the story goes, in 




Fig. 56. Battle scene from Mexican painting, Aubin-Goupil collection. 



Quauhtenanco (" forest stronghold ", " blockhouse? ") by the united 
contingents of the cities of Anahuaca — Tehuantepec, Izuatlan, Xocht- 
lan, Amaxtlan, Quatzontlan, Atlan, Omitlan, and Mapachtepec. 

« Histoire de la Nation Mexicaine depuis le depart d'Aztlan. Manuscripts Figuratifs 
des Anciens Mexicains. Copie du codex de 1576. Collection de M. E. Eugfene Goupil 
(ancienne collection, Aubin). Nos. 35, 36 du Catalogue. Paris, 1893, p. 76. 

" Sahagun, v. 9, chap. 2. 



264 



BUREAU OF AMERICAlSr ETHNOLOGY 



[bull. 28 



The struggle is said to have ended at last in a decided victory 
for the merchants and the taking of numerous captives by them. 
In like manner the chronicle of Tezozomoc ° relates the complete 
conquest and subjugation of this territory. Xochitlan, Amaxtlan, 
Izuatlan, Miauatlan, Tehuantepec, and Xolotlan are named by Tezo- 
zomoc as the cities against which this Avarfare was directed. 

There is probably no doubt that these enterprises were so far suc- 
cessful that the Zapotecs were forced from this time forward to 
allow the Mexican merchants to pass through to the regions on the 
Pacific coast and to grant them freedom of trade in their own terri- 
tory. It must indeed have been a successful war for the Mexicans, 
according to all the records, for it filled their slave markets and fur- 
nished the altars of the gods with sacrifices. These expeditions, how- 
ever, did not result in a conquest and the lasting subjugation of the 
Zapotec country. The Zaj^otec kings remained as independent after- 
ward as thej?^ had been before 










Fig. 57. Mexican symbols of years and pueblos. 




and as well prepared to meet 
the invading Mexican hosts 
b}" force of arms. Indeed, 
the Mexican kings, owing to 
clearly understood commercial 
interests, evidently felt the 
need of entering into a treaty 
with the Zapotecs. This is 
proved by the bestowal of a 
Mexican princess in marriage 
upon the Zapotec king, Coci jo- 
Father Burgoa,^ who drew his 
and by the interpreter of the 



eza, a fact which is told alike by 
information from Zai3otec sources. 
Codex Telleriano-Remensis.^' This alliance did not, of course, put a 
stop to intrigues on the part of the Mexicans. Indeed, this Mexican 
princess, who was called " cotton flake " (Zapotec Pelaxilla : prob- 
ably, Mexican Ichcatlaxoch), gained especial fame and honor among 
the Zapotecs because she did not comply with the demands made upon 
her by her father, but betrayed the plans of the Mexicans to her hus- 
band, the Zapotec king. The son of Cocijo-eza and of this Mexican 
princess was Coci jo-pi j, the last king of Tehuantepec. 

When Cortes landed on the coast of Mexico and overthrew the 
supremacy of the Mexicans by his skillful management and mili- 
tary power he was joyfully hailed by the Zapotecs, as well as by the 
Totonacs and the Tlascaltecs, as their deliverer from the power of 



a Cronica Mexicana, chap. 75, 76. 

" Burgoa, work cited, chap. 72. 

" Part 4, pi. 23, in connection with the year Tochtli, or A. D. 1502. 



SELEE] THE ANCIENT ZAPOTEC COUNTRY 265 

the Mexicans. The Tlascaltecs first measured their strength with 
Cortes before tliey allied themselves with him, but from that time on 
they cleared the way for him and fought his battles as devoted and 
faithful allies. The Zapotecs submitted unconditionally from the be- 
ginning to the Spanish conqueror, turned to him when the Mixtec 
prince of Tototepec threatened an attack, and received Cortes with 
great splendor Avhen he came down as far as Tehuantepec in later 
years. The Zapotecs, nevertheless, very soon became aware of the 
poor exchange they had made. It was in the territory of the Zapo- 
tecs that Cortes selected the best lands, the Valle de Oaxaca and the 
.fruitful, well-watered vegas of Jalapa, in order to form from them 
his earldom, his family estate. However, " Cortes granted a moder- 
ate allowance in money (le hizo donacion de alguna ayuda de costa)" 
to the king of Tehuantepec " with which to support the small family 
which still remained to him "; * and while the king, who was baptized 
with the name Don Juan Cortes, built monasteries for the monks 
with great liberality and furnished them with lands, gardens, fish 
ponds, etc., the monks seized and imprisoned him because he fell away 
from the true faith and performed diabolical ceremonies. After long 
and wearisome processes he was sentenced by the highest court in 
Mexico to lose his dignities and all his remaining possessions. He 
died, while returning from Mexico, in Nexapa, just as he had once 
more set foot on the soil of his former kingdom. 

a Burgoa, work cited, chap. 72. 



UNITY OF MEXICAN AND CENTRAL AMERICAN CIVILI- 
ZATION 

The Zapotecs and their kindred were a nation unrelated to the 
Mexicans. If they can be classed with any of the great language 
groups belonging to the region of the ancient Mexican-Central Amer- 
ican civilization, it can only be the Maya group. Indeed, a number 
of roots and many structural peculiarities of the language seem to 
indicate such a connection. The whole region of ancient Mexican- 
Central American civilization is, however, a conspicuous example of 
what Adolph Bastian calls a " geographical j)rovince ". For, inde- 
pendent of a linguistic difference, we find the special elements of 
Mexican civilization developed in an exactly similar way among all 
the peoples of this territory. This is true of the general conduct of 
life, the technical and military customs, the organization of state and 
of society, but more especially of religion and learning. 

The unity of this entire region of ancient civilization is most 
clearly expressed by the calendar, which these people considered 
the basis and the alpha and omega of all high and occult knowledge. 
This calendar is a special product of Central American culture. Its 
essential peculiarities are the adoption of the fundamental number 
20 as the leading unit, and the combination of this leading unit with 
the number 13. These are features which appear in no other calen- 
dric system hitherto known.'^ Within the region of Central Ameri- 
can civilization not only are these two essential peculiarities to be met 
with in the calendars of all the civilized nations, but also a close 
correspondence in the names of tlie individual days of a lead- 
ing unit. This I have demonstrated in regard to the Maya territory 
in my work entitled " Uber den Charakter der aztekischen und der 
Maya-Handschriften '^ and regarding the Zapotec territory in a 
work on Mexican chronology which appeared in 1891.'' The Zapotec 
calendar is distinguished from those used by the other nations by cer- 
tain peculiarities which one is tempted to consider evidences of special 
antiquity, but which are, perhaps, only the result of a particular 
development and an especial use for augural purposes. 

" Cyras Thomas attempted to show relation of the Central American calendar to that 
used in Hawaii. This attempt, however, must he pronounced an utter failure. The 
ancient inhahitants of Hawaii had a kind of actual month of .SO days ; and the only 
agreement with the Mexican calendar could be the fact that 12X30, like 18X20, gives the 
number 360, thus leaving a surplus of 5 days in the year. 

" Zeitschrift fiir Ethnologie, v. 20, 1888, p. 1 and following. 

" Zeitschrift fiir Ethnologie, v. 23, 1891, p. 89 and following. 

266 



SELER] UNITY OF CIVILIZATION 267 

Like all other things and every event of the world, the calendar was 
governed by relations to space hj the powers ruling in the four points 
of the compass. This was true of the simple calendar, the so-called 
tonalamatl, of 13X20, or 260, days, and of the greater periods of 
time, the 4X13, or 52, solar years, which, as I have demonstrated in 
another place,'* Avere developed necessarily and logically from that 
simple calendar. These greater periods of time, that is to say, the 
single components of the same, the successive, years each bearing the 
name of one of four signs, stood in a specialW close relation to the 
points of the compass. The reference of the years to the cardinal 
points, therefore, was quite common to both the Mexicans and the 
Mayas. The Zapotecs referred also the simple tonalamatl to the four 
points of the compass, and therefore divided it into four sections of 
65 days each. According to the conception of the Zapotecs, each of 
these periods was governed by the sign which gave the name to its 
first day, that is, by the signs which were called in Zapotec quia 
Chilla, quia Lana, quia Goloo, and quia Guiloo, and in Mexican ce 
Cipactli (" 1 alligator "), ce Miquiztli (" 1 death "), ce Ozomatli (" 1 
monkey"), ce Cozcaquauhtli C' 1 king vulture"). The Zapotecs 
named these four powerful signs and the days Cocijo, or Pitao. 
" They offered to them their sacrifices and the blood which they drew 
from different parts of their bodies, the ears, the tip of the tongue, 
the thighs, and other members. The order which they observed in 
doing so was this : As long as the 65 days of the one sign lasted, they 
sacrificed to this sign, and at the expiration of these, to the next 
which came in turn, and so on nntil the first sign recurred ; and they 
prayed to this sign for everything which they needed for the sus- 
tenance of life ".^ 

Pitao, or bitoo, means " the great one ", '' the god ". Cocijo, on the 
other hand, corresponds to the Mexican Tlaloc, the god of rain, 
storms, and mountains. It is translated in the dictionary by " rain 
god" (dios de las lluvias) and "lightning" (rayo).^ The rain god 
dwells in the four points of the compass, and varies according to 
these four points. Therefore the Mayas do not speak of the one rain 
god, Chac, but always of the four Chacs. The story runs also among 
the Mexicans that the rain god lived in four chambers, and that there 
was a great court in the middle where stood four great casks of water. 
The water in one of these was said to be very good, and the rain came 
from it at the right time, when the grain and the corn were growing. 
In the next the water was said to be bad, and the rain which came 

« Zeitschrift fiir Ethnologic, v. 231, 1891, pp. 89-91. 

* Juan de Cordova, Arte en Lengua Zapoteca, Mexico, 1578, p. 202. 

" See also Totia peni quij cocijo, " sacrificar hombre por la pluvia 6 niiio (to sacriflce a 
man for rain, or a child)"; taee cocijo, " caer rayo del cielo (to flash lightning from 
heaven) ". The name cocijo probably means the same as cozaana, that is, " the procrea- 
tor ". See cociyo, huechaa, huichaana, cozaana, pichijgo, linage generalmente. 



268 



BUEEAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



[BULL. 28 



from it produced fiingous growths in the corn, which turned black. 
It came from the third Avhen it rained and froze; from the fourth, 
when it rained and no corn came up or when it came up and dried. 
This rain god, in order to produce rain, Avas said to have created 
many helpers in the form of dwarfs, who lived in the four chambers 
and carried sticks in their hands and jars into which they drew water 
from the great casks, and if the god commanded them to water sOme 
strip of land they took their jars and sticks and poured out water as 



Wt"^ ' . t. 




Vu:. 58. The live rain gods, from the Borgian codex. 

they had been commanded; if there was a flash of lightning it was 
from something they had in the water or from the cracking of the 
jar." 

This reference of the four sections of the calendar to the rain god, 
who varied according to the four points of the compass, which is 
shown by the designation cocijo or pitao for the initial Zapotec signs 
of these four sections, is of special interest, inasmuch as it furnishes 
the explanation for some very remarkable pages of the picture manu- 

« Historia de los Mexicanos per sus Pinturas, chap. 2 ; Garcia y Icazbalcela, Nueva 
Coleccion de Documentos para la Historia de Mexico, v. 3, Mexico, 1891, p. 230. 



sblek] 



UNITY OF CIVILIZATION 269 



scripts. In the Borgian codex, which is one of the best and most 
beautifully executed manuscripts of Mexican antiquity that we pos- 
sess, there is found, on page 12, the complicated representation 
which I have reproduced here in figure 58. Placed in the order of a 
quincunx, we see five different pictures of the rain god, each holding 
in one hand a handled jug of the face- jug type (the face being that 
of the rain god) and in the other hand a snake which is bent in the 
form of a hatchet. The four figures at the corners are ascribed by 
the marginal numerals and signs to the initial days of the four 
divisions of the tonalamatl; ce Cipactli (" 1 alligator "), ce Miquiztli 
("1 death"), ce Ozomatli ("1 monkey"), ce Cozcaquauhtli ("1 
king vulture "), and also to the initial years of the four divisions of 
the cycle of 52 years: ce Acatl (" 1 reed "), ce Tecpatl (" 1 flint "), 
ce Calli (" 1 house "), ce Tochtli (" rabbit "). There are no day or 
year signs given with the fifth figure, the one in the center. 

The first figure, the lower one on the right, represents the east. To 
it belongs the first division of the tonalamatl, designated by its initial 
day, "1 alligator", also the first division of the great cycle, desig- 
nated by its initial year, " 1 reed ". This figure is painted a dark color 
and wears as a helmet mask the sign of the tonalamatl division to 
which it belongs, a cipactli (alligator) head. A cloudy sky, promis- 
ing rain, is spread above the god, and under him lies extended the 
cipactli, as the Mexicans call it, the pichijUa in Zapotec, the alligator, 
the symbol of the fruitful earth, from all parts of whose body the 
ears and tassel of the maize plant are seen sprouting. The water 
which streams to the earth from the jug and from the hatchet-shaped 
lightning serpent of the gods brings down with it more maize ears 
and tassels. The rain god of the east is represented in every respect 
as a good and fruitful god. 

The second figure, the upper one on the right, represents the north. 
The second division of the tonalamatl and the second division of the 
cycle, represented respectively by the first day, "1 death", and the 
first year, " 1 flint ", belong to it. This figure is painted yellow and 
wears as a helmet mask the sign of the second tonalamatl division, a 
death's-head. A clear, sunny sky, sending down rays of light, 
stretches above the god. There are three vessels below him, appar- 
ently filled with water. This water, however, is painted the brown 
color of stone instead of the blue of water, and in it are seen the 
bony nose and the eye of a death's-head. It is an obvious attempt 
to represent the water as dead, dried up. Winged insect shapes, 
wearing death's-heads, eat the ears of maize which stand in these dry 
water basins. In the water, however, which streams down from the 
jug which the god holds, as well as in that which comes from his 
hatchet-shaped lightning serpent, there descends a hatchet, the sym- 



270 BUEEAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

bol of the god who strikes with lightning. This rain god of the 
north, therefore, designates drought, death, and famine. 

The third figure, the upper one on the left, represents the west. 
The third division of the tonalamatl and the third division of the 
cycle belong to it, represented respectively by the initial day, " 1 
monkey ", and the initial year, " 1 house ", belong to this one. The 
figure of the god is painted blue, and he wears as a helmet mask the 
sign of the third tonalamatl division, not a monkey's head, it is true, 
but the head of an animal which recalls somewhat Xolotl, and which 
is represented in the Borgian codex, page 16, near the day sign Ozo- 
matli, " monkey ", as the god of song and gaming. Above the god 
stretches a broad sky full of clouds and rain, and under him stand 
the maize plants, completely flooded with water. 

The fourth figure, the lower one on the left, represents the south. 
The fourth division of the tonalamatl and the fourth division of the 
cycle belong to it, one represented by its first day, " 1 king vulture ", 
the other by its first year, " 1 rabbit ". The god is painted red and 
wears as a helmet mask the sign of the fourth tonalamatl division, a 
vulture's head. Above him is represented a clear, sunny sky, sending 
down rays of light. Under him, in the midst of a yellow, pulverized 
mass, are ears of maize in pairs, that is, abortions, and a kind of 
rabbit, with the face of a death's-head, feeds on them. In the water 
which streams from the jug in the god's hand there is seen, as in the 
figure of the north, a hatchet, but with the addition of a tongue of 
flame shooting out from the handle. 

The fifth figure represents the center, or the direction from above 
downward. No day signs accompany it, for it belongs to no divi- 
sion of the calendar. The god is striped in white and red, which are 
the colors of the gods of the night heaven and the twilight, and 
he wears on his head the usual ornament of the rain god. The 
starry sky and the sign of da}^ and night are represented above him. 
Below him sit the earth goddesses. The sign of war — shield, bundle 
of javelins, spear thrower, and banner — is seen coming out of the 
water which streams down from the jug. In that which runs down 
from the hatchet-shaped lightning serpent are pictured a skeleton 
and a jawbone. A variant of this interesting page occurs on page 28 
of Codex Vaticanus B. 

It is not necessary to emphasize the fact that the way in which the 
four rain gods are here differentiated according to the ]Doints of the 
compass corresponds fairly well to the characterization which is 
given in the passage above quoted (page 18) from the Historia de 
los Mexicanos por sus pinturas. Onl}^ in the latter place the order 
is plainly not east, north, west, south, but east, west, north, south. 

The Zapotecs, as Juan de Cordova states,' divided the 65 days of 
each tonalamatl division into five sections of 13 days each, which 



sblee] 



UNITY OP CIVILIZATION 



271 



corresponds to the systeni that is followed by the Mexicans and 
Mayas. Cocij, or tobi cocij, is said to have been the name of such 
a division of 13 days, " as we say, a month, a division of time ".'» 
Cocij means " the distributor ". Its primitive meaning is in all 
probability the same as cocij o, and it, therefore, in all likelihood refers 
also to the god of rain and of the points of the compass. The word 
has a general meaning of '• time 'V and means specially " a period of 
20 days " : and, indeed, in its narrowest sense " 20 days in the past '", 




Fig. 59. The twenty day signs, from the Borgian codes. 

" 20 days ago ", while " 20 days in the future ", " in 20 days ", was 
designated by huecij, or cacij. 

The separate days of the cocij, according to Juan de Cordova, 
had each its special name, which was designated by the picture of 
an animal, as an eagle, a monkey, snake, lizard, deer, hare, or the like. 
Twenty such animal pictures are said to have been employed and 
their signs to have been assigned to and painted upon the different 
parts or members of a deer.^ This observation is especially inter- 

" Juan de CSrdova, Arte, p. 202. 

"As cocij cog-aa : tiempo encogido en quo no se puede trahajar (" fearful time in which 
one could not work") ; cocij collapa, cocij layna, cocij: tiempo de mieses, frutas, 6 de 
siego, 6 de algo ("time of corn, fruit, or of harvesting, of wealth") ; Coo yoocho, piye 
yoocho, cocij yoocho: tiempo enfermo, 6 de pestilencia : ("time of sickness, or of pesti- 
lence "). 

■^ Juan de C6rdova, Arte, p. 203. 



272 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHN-QLOGY [bull. 28 

esting because it also explains a picture on page 62 of the Borgian 
codex which I have reproduced in figure 59, and the first page ri 
Codex Vaticanus B likewise corresponds to this representation. In 
figure 59 the deer is clearly to be recognized by the antlers (painted 
the customary blue), which are drawn on either side of the head 
over the ear, and by the deer's hoofs, while the figure of Codex 
Vaticanus B, although it agrees in every respect with figure 59, would 
without this comparison with the latter scarcely be recognized as a 
deer in its anthropomorphic and demonic form. 

The distribution of the twenty day signs on the members of the deer 
is exactly the same in the two representations. Only, in the Borgian 
codex (figure 59) the order of the signs begins below on the right, but 
in the representation of Codex Vaticanus B it begins beloAv on the 
left, so that these two figures are related as positive and negative. 
The first two day signs, alligator and wind god, that is, probably, 
earth and heaven, are placed on the two feet of the animal. The 
third, house, obviously belongs to the anus. The fourth, lizard, 
is ascribed to the penis; the fifth, snake, to the flexible tail. The 
day signs from the sixth to the tenth, death, deer, rabbit, water, dop-, 
are placed on a broad band which lies across the belly of the deci. 
The eleventh, monkey, is on the breast. The twelfth and thirteenth, 
reed and twisted grass, are supported by the hands, or fore feet. The 
seven last, jaguar, eagle, vulture, rolling ball, flint, rain, and flower, 
are distributed over the face. 

A distribution of the day signs essentially like this, but differing 
in some details, is portrayed in the Borgian codex, page 22, over the 
body of the god Tezcatlipoca ; another, in the Laud coclex, page 2, 
over that of the rain god, Tlaloc. A final outgrowth, evidently, of 
these representations, is on page 75 of Codex Vaticanus A, where the 
day signs are distributed over the different parts of the human body, 
but in an entirely different order. 

Each of the twenty animals of the Zapotec calendar " had thirteen 
different names, and although all these thirteen names stood for the 
same thing, they were distinguished one from the other by adding 
letters or taking them away and by changing their numerals "'. With 
these words Father Juan de Cordova describes that Avhich is doubt- 
less the most remarkable characteristic of the Zapotec calendar, 
namely, that the twenty signs of the calendar were not merely, as 
among the other nations of Central America, combined with the 
numerals 1 to V6 in the way peculiar to this calendar, but that the 
combination of the signs A^ith the numerals became incrusted, as it 
were, upon the form of the words serving as the day names, so that 
in every case there can be separated from the name of the word a 
prefix, which is about the same for all signs joined with the same 
numeral. Variations and exceptions certainly occur, and it is not 



SELEE] UNITY OF CIVILIZATION 273 

easy to tell whether they are not oversights or mistaken impressions 
of the worthy monk who preserved this calendar for us or perhaps 
are simply to be attributed to the careless reprint Avhich is the only 
extant edition of the Grammar of Father Juan de Cordova. Com- 
bining the words with the numerals, the following result is obtained : 

Chaga, or tobi (1), gives the prefix quia, quie. 

Cato, or topa (2), gives the prefix pe, pi, pela. 

Cayo, or chona (3), gives the prefix peo, peola. 

Taa, or tapa(4), gives the prefix cala. 

Caayo, or gaayo (5), gives the prefix pe, pela. 

Xopa (6) gives the prefix qua, qviala. 

Caache (7) gives the prefix pilla. 

Xona (8) gives the prefix ne, ni, nela. 

Caa, or gaa (9), gives the prefix pe, pi, pela. 

Chij (10) gives the prefix pilla. 

Chijbi tobi (11) gives the prefix ne, ni, nela (these at least are the most 
frequent prefixes; but exceptions are more numerous here). 

Chijibi topa (12) gives the prefix pina, piiio, pinij. 

Chijno (13) gives the prefix peci, pici, quici. 

Of these different prefixes, however, only a few seem to contain a 
special meaning. I am inclined to connect the prefix quia, quie, which 
accompanies the sign joined with the numeral 1, with the word quia, 
quie, which means '" stone " and " rain ", taking into consideration that 
which has been said above concerning the part which the rain god plays 
in the calendar. The last prefix, which accompanies the signs united 
with the numeral 13, suggests pijci, " omen ". Piiio, pinij, has, per- 
haps, some connection with chino. '' full '\ '• happiness ", " blessing ". 
The other prefixes seem to be variants merely of the well-known pre- 
fixes pe, pi, CO, ua, by which persons in action and living beings are 
denoted. The syllable la is demonstrative. 

If we separate these prefixes from the names of the 260 days of the 
Zapotec calendar, which Father Juan de Cordova has handed down 
to us, we have for the twenty day signs of the Zapotec calendar the 
following names : 

Chijlla, alligator. Loo, Goloo, monkey. 

Quij, or Laa (wind), fire. Pija, Chija, that which is twisted. 

Quela, Ela, Laala, night. Quij, Laa, reed. 

Gueche, Guichi, Ache, Achi, Ichi, Gueche, Eche, Ache, jaguar. 

iguana. Naa, Quinaa, mother (earth goddess, 

Gee, Cij, sign of ill omen (snake). eagle). 

Lana, veiled, dark (death). Loo, Quilloo, narcotic root. 

China, deer. Xoo, earthquake. 

Lapa, divided, cut in pieces (rabbit). Opa, Gopa, cold, stone. 
Niza, Queza, water. Ape, Gape, cloud covering. 

Tela, dog. Lao, Loo, eye, face. 

I have discussed these names in my work on Mexican Chronology," 
already cited above, and have demonstrated their fundamental agree- 



" Zeitschrift fiir Ethnologie, v. 23, 1891, pp. 115-133. 
7238— No. 28—05 18 



274 BUREAU OF AMERICA:^ ETHNOLOGY [bdll. 2.S 

ment with both the Mexican and the Maya nomenclatures of the 
twenty day signs. From this analysis I obtained the important fact 
that the double meanings which frequently occur in the Zapotec 
names of the day signs explain the apparently fundamental differ- 
ence between the Mexican and the Maya names of the same sign. 
From this fact it is fairly safe to conclude that the Zapotecs or their 
kindred were the medium through which the knowledge of this calen- 
dar passed from the Mexicans to the Mayas, or vice versa, unless we 
ought to accept the theory that the Zapotecs or their kindred were 
those among whom this calendar was invented and by whom the 
knowledge of it was originally communicated to both the Mexicans 
and the Mayas. 



ZAPOTEC PKIESTHOOD AND CEPvEMONIALS 

There is in all parts of the world a certain fundamental uniformity 
in religious ideas, still more in religious practices, in spite of a wide 
difference in the details. Professor Stoll has lately ingeniously set 
forth the cause of this uniformity in his book entitled " Suggestion 
und Hypnotismus in der Volkerpsychologie ".'^ This uniformity 
is naturally more striking within the boundaries of one and the 
same larger or smaller area. Therefore it is not strange that we 
find the religious life among the Zapotecs, as far as our scanty means 
permit of elucidating the matter, proceeding on very much the same 
lines as that of the Mexicans or that of the Mayas, concerning whom 
we are much better informed on this point, especially in regard to 
the Mexicans. 

Among the Zapotecs the organization of the priesthood seems to 
have had a somewhat peculiar development and was certainly more 
compact than among the other nations. They distinguished between 
high and subordinate priests and pupils, or children who were edu- 
cated for the priesthood. 

The high priests were called Uija-tao, "great seer". Their chief 
function was evidently to consult the gods in important matters 
concerning the whole nation or individuals and to transmit the 
answers to the believers. The way in which these priests obtained 
their inspiration is plainly described in the passage quoted above 
from the work of Father Burgoa. It is here clearly a question of 
autosuggestion. They had the power and the habit of putting them- 
selves into an ecstatic state, and actually believed what they saw and 
heard in their visions and hallucinations. In Mexico the high priests 
were called Quetzalcoatl, in memory of the priest god of ToUan, 
who was said to have been the first who taught religious practices, 
especially the sacrifice of one's own blood, and they distinguished 
between a Quetzalcoatl Totec tlamacazqui and a Quetzalcoatl Tlaloc 
tlamacazpui, corresponding to the two chief deities whose worship 
was performed in the chief temple of the capital.^ A similar idea 
seems to have existed in regard to the high priests of the Zapotecs. 

« Leipzig, 1894. *" Saliagun, v. 3, appendix, chap. 9. 

375 



276 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

These were not elected to their office, as was the case with the Mexi- 
cans, but the}^ transmitted it, as Father Burgoa relates, to their sons 
or nearest relatives. From the description, however, which Father 
Burgoa gives of the way in which this transmission was made, it 
clearly appears that these high priests were considered as the living 
images of the priest god of the Toltecs, as the incarnation of Quetzal- 
coatl. While the priests were, as a general thing, bound to be chaste, 
and chastity was, as we shall see, assured by depriving boys destined 
for the priesthood of their virility, at certain festivals, at which, the 
high priest was obliged to become intoxicated, maidens were brought 
to him, and if one of them became pregnant and gave birth to a boy 
he was destined to be the successor of the high priest. This agrees 
with the story related of Quetzalcoatl, the priest god of the Toltecs," 
how he was enticed by Avicked sorcerers, Tezcatlipoca and the god of 
the Amantecas, Coyotl inaual, to drink pulque; forgot his chastity 
in the intoxication, and indulged in intercourse with Quetzalpetlatl ; 
and for this sin was forced to leave not only the city, but also the 
country, and go eastward to the seacoast, where he caused a funeral 
pyre to be erected for himself, and out of the fire his heart ascended 
to the heavens as the planet Venus. 

The ordinary priests of the Zapotecs Avere called copa pitao (copa 
bitoo) , " guardians of the gods ", or ueza-eche, " sacrificers '". Perhaps 
these two names indicate two special classes of priests, corresponding 
to the Mexican designations tlamacazqui and tlenamacac. The office 
of these subordinate priests is given in the description of Father 
Burgoa quoted above. They had, on the one hand, to keep the 
sanctuary, the idols, and everything which pertained to their wor- 
ship in an orderly condition and in readiness and to assist the 
high priest in "his duties. On the other hand, they were the ones 
who performed the actual sacrifices, especially the human sacrifices, 
after which they brouglit the heart and the blood to the high priest 
that he might offer it to the gods for food. In this respect the method 
appears to have been a different one with the Zapotecs from that used 
by the Mexicans, for what is reported of the Mexicans in regard to 
this seems to indicate merely that it was the chief, the high priest, 
who performed the actual sacrifice, though he was indeed relieved 
by others Avhen the bloody work' began to Aveary him, but yet Avas 
the first to put his hand to this butchery. If, hoAvever, the Zapotecs 
deviated in this from the Mexican, there appears to haA^e been a 
remarliable agreement Avith the JNIaya custom ; for Landa ^ reports 
of the Mayas of Yucatan that two different offices Avere designated 

«' Aiiales de Quauhtitlan Publlcacion de los Auales del Miiseo Nacional de Mexico, 1885, 
pp. 19-21. 

"Relacion de las Cosas de Yucatan, edited by de la Rada y Delgado, p. 85. 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 




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RELIEF DESIGNS FROM THE WALLS AT MITLA 



SELER] ZAPOTEC PRIESTHOOD AND CEREMONIALS 277 

b}^ the word nacom, one the very honorable office of war chief, who 
was chosen always for three years, the other the by no means honor- 
able lifelong office of the man who cut open the breasts of the victims 
of sacrifice. 

Just as there was in addition the lowest order with the Mexicans, 
the priest pupils, tlamacazton, " little priests ", who had to help 
the adult priests and learn the temple service, the priests' duties, 
and all priestly knowledge and traditions, so also did this class exist 
with the Zapotecs. Among the Zapotecs these priest pupils were 
called pixana, translated in Burgoa's work by " dedicados a los 
dioses ". These were chosen, as Father Burgoa reports of the Zapo- 
tecos Serranos and Cajonos,« from the younger sons of caciques and 
people of rank, and were castrated when they were boys. It can not 
be ascertained from existing sources of information whether this cus- 
tom was also practiced by the Zapotecs of the Valle de Oaxaca and in 
Tehuantepec. Burgoa '^ also gives the name pixana to the boys aiding 
in the work of the temple in Tehuantepec. 

As regards religious practices, these consisted with the Zapotecs, 
as with the Mexicans and Muya peoples, chiefly in the burning 
of incense and in the offering of sacrificial gifts, small animals and 
birds, but especially in the offering of blood, which they drew 
from their own bodies. The usual places for this bloodletting were 
the tongue and the ear, and reports commonly state that they pierced 
their tongues and ears for the purpose. Burgoa, however, particu- 
larizes the place for the Zapotecs, namely, the veins under the 
tongue and behind the ear.^ He reports another peculiarity which 
is not known of other tribes, namely, that they did this piercing of 
the flesh with a sharp bone or a stone knife, or with the pointed 
nail of the forefinger, which they allowed to grow long for this pur- 
pose.'* The blood that trickled out was caught on blades of grass 
or bright feathers, and was thus offered to the idols as a sacrifice. 

Among the Zapotecs, too, the most significant and important offer- 
ing was human sacrifice, which, as Father Burgoa expressly states,'' 
was performed with special solemnity and elaborate ceremonies. 
Modern scholars of note in the state of Oaxaca are now inclined to 
dem^ that the Zapotecs performed human sacrifices, apparently from 
a sentiment of patriotism. This is the case with the historian of 
Oaxaca, Jose Antonio Gay, and the author of the useful Catalogo 
Etiraoiogico de Oaxaca, Manuel Martinez Gracida, to whom we owe 
also a description of Mitla. It is certain that neither the Zapotecs 

" Work cited, chap. 58. 

" Work cited, chap. 72. 

•! Work cited, chaps. 58, 64, 70. 

" Work cited, chap. 70. 

" See above. 



278 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

nor the Mayas sacrificed human beings in such multitudes as the 
Mexicans ; « "^ still, human sacrifices were offered, but less frequently, 
and, as it seems, only on stated occasions. We learn from the 
Zapotec dictionary of Father Juan de Cordova that there were 
two or three special occasions when human sacrifices were per- 
formed. Prisoners of war were sacrificed, and in this case the flesh 
of the victims was even eaten,^ as in Mexico ; human beings were also 
sacrificed to the deity of the harvests, that is, probably the earth 
goddess ; '^ finally, children were sacrificed to the rain god.*^ In this 
fast point there appears again a marked agreement with the ideas 
and the worship of the Mexicans, for in Mexico, too, children were 
sacrificed in the first five or six months of the year to the god of rain, 
tempest, and mountains, Tlaloc, as Sahagun relates in detail. The 
expression which was here used by the Mexicans as a technical term, 
nino-ixtlaua, or nextlaualiztli, "paying one's debts", corresponds 
exactly to the word used by the Zapotecs for this sacrifice of chil- 
dren, and, in fact, only in connection with it, ti-quixe-a cocijo, " I 
pay my debt to the rain god ". 

A specially noticeable and peculiar ceremony practiced among the 
Zapotecs is indicated by some words of the dictionary as well as by 
a detailed description from Father Burgoa. The dictionary of Juan 
de Cordova contains, under the heading yerva (" grass, herb "), the 
following notice: "Tola, a grasslike plant (una yerva de los erva- 
zales) out of which in ancient times they made a straw rope -(una 
soguilla o tomiza), which they brought to confession and laid down 
on the ground before the pijana and confessed what sins they wished 
to confess. Hence it comes that tola is still used with the meaning of 
' sin ', and that they also say lao-tola, ' place of sin or of confession ', 
although the word also means ' a dark place ' ". 

The expression pijana, that is, pixana, which Juan de Cordova 
uses here, seems to refer to a ceremony observed specially among the 
Zapotecos Serranos. For this word pixana, " dedicated to the god ", 
was not used by them merely for the priest pupils, but generally for 
the priests of the idols. Father Burgoa describes very fully this 
ceremony of the Zapotecos Serranos, which was still practiced in 

"No eran tan carniceros como los Mexicanos ("They were not so fond of carnage as 
the Mexicans"), says Father Burgoa, work cited, chap. 58. Gay concludes that Father 
Burgoa means in this passage that they performed no human sacrifices at all. 

".Tuan de C6rdova distinguishes: peni yy, peni quij, peni y6 " hombre que sacrificavan 
tornado en guerra, 6 captivo presentado il un Seuor para sacrificarle (a man taken m 
war that they sacrificed, or a captive presented to the lord to sacrifice) ", and xoyaa, 
xoyaaquij, "si era guisado o cocido o asado para comerlo (if it was baked, stewed, or 
broiled for eating) ". 

•^ Toti-nije-a, ti-cooa, quij nije, " sacrificar per las mleses hombre (to sacrifice for har- 
vest a man)". , . . . ,. 

<'T6tia peni-quij-cocijo, tiqufse a cocijo, "sacrificar hombre por la pulvia, o nino (to 

sacrifice a man for rain, or a child)". 



selbr] 



ZAPOTEC PRIESTHOOD AND CEREMONIALS 279 



his time, 1652, in a village in the neighborhood of San Francisco de 
Cajonos Father Burgoa had come into this region on an inspection 
tour, and there he mef with a stately old cacique, who was magnifi- 
cently dressed in Spanish fashion, all in silk, and was evidently 
treated by the Indians with great respect. He came to pay his 
respects to the padre and to give an account of the progress of reli- 
gious instruction in his village, and the padre perceived that he was a 
well-informed man, with complete command of the Spanish lan- 
guage, but, from some indications which long experience had taught 
him, his suspicions were aroused in regard to the man's soundness of 
faith. He imparted his suspicions to the vicar of the place, but re- 
ceived such satisfactory information from him that he thought he had 
deceived himself this time. It was, however, this same old man who, 
a few days later, was seen by a Spaniard roaming through the moun- 
tain forest after game, in a place hidden behind rocks and bushes, per- 
forming heathenish idolatrous ceremonies in the midst of a devout 
assembly. The Spaniard hastened away terrified, roused the monks 
while it was still night, and in the early morning, before an intima- 
tion of the matter had reached the Indian servants of the monastery, 
the vicar and the prelate, guided by the Spaniard, started on their 
way. After weary wandering in hunters' paths they reached the 
place at noon and found on the stone which served for an altar all the 
sacrificial gifts still fresh, " feathers of many colors, sprinkled with 
blood which the Indians had drawn from the veins under their 
tongues and behind their ears, incense spoons, and remains of copal, 
and in the middle a horrible stone figure, Avhich was the god to whom 
they had offered this sacrifice in expiation of their sins (sacrificio de 
expiacion de sus culpas) while they made their confessions to the 
blasphemous priest and cast off their sins in the following manner. 
They had woven a sort of dish out of a tough herb which was specially 
gathered for this purpose (uno como fuente, 6 plato muy grande), 
and, throwing this upon the ground before the priest, had said to 
him that they came to beg mercy of their god and pardon for the sins 
which they had committed in that year, and that they had brought 
them all carefully enumerated. They then drew out of a cloth 
pairs of slender threads made of dry maize husks (toto-mostle), 
that they had tied two by two in the middle with a knot, by 
which they represented their sins. They laid these threads on the 
dishes of braided grass and over them pierced their veins and let the 
blood trickle upon them, and the priest took these offerings to the idol 
and in a long speech he begged the god to forgive these, his sons, their 
sins which were brought to him and to permit them to be joyful and 
hold feasts to him as their god and lord. Then the priest came back 
to those who had confessed, delivered a long discourse on the cere- 



280 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

monies they had still to jjerform, and told them that the ffod had 
pardoned them and that they might be glad again and sin anew ". 

This elaborate ceremonial, the details of which were established 
beyond a doubt in the course of the inquisitorial examination to 
which all the participants were subjected, was not suggested to the 
Indians b}^ Christian confession and absolution, but corresponds to 
the confession which was made in Mexico to the jjriests of the earth 
goddess, who was called, for this reason, Tlaelquani, " filth-eater ", 
and Tlazolteotl, " god of ordure ". Only in Mexico the necessity of 
this confession was confined to sins in veneribus, that is, to offenses 
against the sacredness of marriage, while with the Zapotecs, as 
appears from the entire description, this ceremony must have had a 
more general intention, applying to the expiation of all sins. The 
words which the padre reported in conclusion, namely, that the 
heathen jDriest told his penitents that they were now absolved from 
their sins and could sin anew, are probably to be taken quite seriously; 
for in Mexico also the idea prevailed that by this confession, which 
was made to the priests of the earth goddess, and the penance fol- 
lowing upon it the sinner was entirely freed from his sins, to such 
an extent, indeed, that he could no longer be reached by any secular 
punishment, which in this case was very severe, stoning to death 
being the pimishment for adultery. It cost the monks trouble 
enough to persuade the Indians that the confession Avhich they 
demanded and received was followed by no such exemptions from 
the law. 

There is another ]3oint of interest connected with the Zapotec cere- 
monies described above, namely, the use made of the grass rope on 
these occasions, for it serves to throw further light on certain passages 
in the picture writings. Here, as in the cases discussed in connection 
with the calendar, the Borgian codex and Codex Vaticanus B corre- 
spond most closely to the description. 

Among the few fundamental characters which, as I have demon- 
strated,'* recur in a typical manner in the difterent picture manu- 
scripts of the grou]) forming the Borgian codex, a representation of 
the tonalamatl occupies a prominent place. It is here represented as 
divided into tAventy sections of 1?> days each, to each of which is 
ascribed a certain deity who was the ruling power in it, and who was 
sufficiently indicated to the understanding of the Indians by the 
initial sign of the section. The order in which the deities follow one 
another here seems to have been, in a measure, a canonical one; for 
in other passages in these picture writings we find these deities 
ascribed to the twenty day signs in the same order, except that in the 

" Der Codex Borgia und die verwandten axtekischeu Bilderscliriften, Zeitschrift fur 
Ethnologie, t. 19, 1887, p. (105) .and following. 



BELER] ZAPOTEC PRIESTHOOD AND CEREMONIALS 281 

latter case a new deity is inserted between the tenth and the eleventh, 
and therefore the twentieth deity of the first (original?) series is 
omitted at the end. The seventeenth and eighteenth deities of the 
first series, or the eighteenth and nineteenth of the second, are the 
ones which seem to have special reference to the festival of expiation 
of the Zapotecs which has jnst been described. 

The expiation of sin is expressed in the clearest and most realistic 
way, especially by the picture of the first of these two deities. He is 
dejoicted in the form of a turkey cock, designated by the interpreter 
as Chalchiuhtotolin, "emerald fowl ", and explained as the image of 
the god called by the Mexicans Tezcatlipoca, " smoking mirror ". 

By a natural and quite comprehensible transference of ideas sin 
was designated by the people of ancient Mexico as dirt, excrement, 
offal, and was portrayed in the picture writings, in a way to be recog- 
nized more or less clearly, in the form of human fa?ces. Tlaelquani, 
" she who eats ordure ", was called by the Mexicans the " earth god- 
dess ", because she was the eradicator of sins, to whose priests the 
people went to confess their sins in order to be freed from them by 
this confession. In all the passages under consideration there is 
always depicted opposite Chalchiuhtotolin a man in the act of self- 
castigation, of drawing his own blood, or, in his stead, the imple- 
ments and symbols of castigation. In the calendars of Codices 
Telleriano-Remensis and A^^aticanus A, next to the representation of a 
penitent, sin is expressed by the conventional drawing of ordure (a, 
figure 60).'' On page 51 of the Borgian codex, to which page 32 of 
Codex Vaticanus B corresponds, an eagle's claw is represented beside 
the sjanbols of castigation, offering the ordure to Chalchiuhtotolin to 
eat (5, figure 60).'' By this means the " emerald fowl ", the image of 
Tezcatlipoca, is likewise designated as Tlaelquani, the eradicator of 
sins.'' Finally, in the Borgian codex, page 29, to which pages 1 and 
77, Codex Vaticanus B, correspond, opposite Chalchiuhtotolin, there 
is («, figure 61) the penitent (who bores out his eye with a sharp- 
ened bone) in the middle of a ring, which appears from its coloring 
to be of braided grass, since it consists of alternating green and white 
sections, the white ones dotted with red, indicating the sprinkling 
Avith blood. This ring evidently represents the tola of the Zapotecs, 
the rope of grass, whose use is explained above. 

The same rope of grass is also represented in page 30 of the 

" In the third section of the calendar, in the place where in some picture writings the 
earth goddess is represented opposite the god Tepeyollotl, in others, instead of the 
former, there is the picture of a man eating his own excrement (hieroglyph for Tlael- 
quani) and the symbol of the moon (see figure 65). 

'' I had not arrived at a full comprehension of all these circumstances when I wrote 
my work on Tonalamatl der Auhinschen Sammlung. 

"^ This signification of Tezcatlipoca is also supported by other passages in the picture 
writings, specially by the following codices : Borgian, p. 27 ; Vaticanus B, pp. 6, 79, or 
Borgian, p. 46; and Vaticanus B, p. 37. 



282 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOUOGY 



[BULL. 28 



Borgian codex, corresponding to pages 8 and 76 of Codex Vaticanus 
B, with the deity of the nineteenth day sign, h and c. Here is 
apparently not a^ question of directly doing penance, but of pious 
exercises in general, especially of fasting. I have copied these 
pictures, first, because the figure of Codex Vaticanus B, page 3, c, 
shows clearly a rope of grass by the ends of the braid which are cut 




Fig. 60. Drawing blood from the ears, and implements of castigation, from 
Mexican codices. 

off below and terminate above in small flower heads, after the manner 
of the malinalli, and secondly, because this rope of grass recurs in 
Mexican picture writings, to wit, as a symbol for " fasting " in the 
hieroglyphs of the kings Nezahualcoyotl, '^ the fasting prairie wolf ", 
and Nezahualpilli, " the fasting prince ", of Tetzcoco, as they are 
depicted in the Codex Telleriano-lJemensis, d and e. 



seler] 



ZAPOTEC PRIESTHOOD AND CEREMONIALS 



283 



Although it is therefore plain that the symbol of the grass rope 
was not unknown to the Mexicans, still it is frequent only in the 
picture writings of the Borgian codex group, and in this group is 
represented only particularly in connection with expiation of sin. 
Its occurrence, like that of the representation of the four rain gods 
(figure 58) and the deer figures bearing the day signs (figure 59), 
seem therefore to point to the conclusion that the picture writings of 
the Borgian codex group are either actually Zapotec or belong to a 
territory whose people resembled the latter in their religious and 
calendrie notions. This is a fact which we have every reason to keep 
well in mind. 




h d e 

Fig. 61. Self-punishment and symbol?! of two kings from Mexican codices. 

The special signification attached to the twisted grass rope, tola, 
among the Zapotecs also explains the singularly baneful part which 
the " grass " malinalli, " the twist ", plays as a day sign. For there 
is probably no doubt that this Mexican malinalli and the Zapotec 
tola are the same thing, although tola was not used in the Zapotec 
calendar for malinalli, but pija, chija, corresponding to the literal 
sense of malinalli. This fact seems in its turn to indicate that in the 
land of the Zapotecs we are not very far from the spot where the day 
signs originated and where the whole remarkable system of the 
Central American calendar was elaborated. 



DEITIES AND EELIGIOUS CONCEPTIONS OF THE 

ZAPOTECS 

The Zapotec dictionary, b}'- Father Juan de Cordova, already fre- 
quently mentioned, forms a chief source of information concerning- 
the immediate religious conceptions of the Zapotecs, the forms of 
the gods which were worshiped by them and to which they turned in 
every need and for the- satisfaction of all their desires. Among the 
different names and designations, which, generally speaking, are 
rather designations of activities than true names, the most prominent 
of all are those pertaining to a creative deity. In their meaning and 
application these designations were very likely similar to the Mexican 
Totecuyo, Tloque Nauaque, Ilhuicaua, Tlaticpaque, Youalli ehecatl, 
and the like, that is,. they were, like these, used to a certain extent as 
a general appellation of the deity, and probably also in addressing 
the different deities, or as attributes to name them by. Their con- 
struction and their etymology, however, furnish a clue to the lines 
along which speculative thought moved among the Zapotecs in refer- 
ence to the origin of all things. 1 give here the names and the Span- 
ish expression of which they are supposed to be a translation, accord- 
ing to the dictionary of Father Juan de Cordova. They are as fol- 
low : 

Coqui-Xee, Coqui-Cilla, 

Xee-Tao, Pixee-Tao, Cilla-Tao, 

Nix§e-Tao, Ni-Cilla-Tao, 

Pije-TJlo, Pij-Xoo, Pije-Xoo, 

" God witliont end and without beginning, so they called him with- 
out knowing whom" (Dios infinito y sin principio, llamavanle, sin 
saber a quien). 

Coqui-Cilla, Xee-Tao, Piyee-Xao, Chllla-Tao, 

"The uncreated lord, who has no beginning and no end" (el Sefior 
increado, el que no tiene principio y fin). 
Piye-Tao, Piye-Xoo, 
Coqui-Xee, Coqui-Cilla, Coqui-Nij, 

" God, of whom they said that he was the creator of all things and 
was himself uncreated " (Dios que decian que era creador del todo y el 
increado). 

As to the elements which are contained in these appellations, coqui 
simply means " lord ", " leader ", '' cacique '', " king " ; tao and xoo are 
adjectives; tao (too, or roo) means "great". With the prefix for 
animate beings, the word forms the customary expression for " god " 
(Pitao, Bitoo, that is, " the great one "). Xoo is a synonym of the 
384 



SELEE] DEITIES AND RELIGIOUS CONCEPTIONS 285 

former, and means " strong ", " powerful ". Ni and pi are prefixes ; 
the second is the prefix just mentioned for animate beings, while the 
first has a more general meaning and is equivalent to " he who is ". 
There then remain as essential elements in the above appellations 
only the following: Xee, cilia (xilla, chilla), pij (pije, piyee), nij. 

Of these different expressions, the first two, xee and cilia, are syno- 
nyms. They are regularly used together as a compound, with the 
meaning of " beginning ", " origin ". The fundamental meaning of 
both is doubtless " growing light ", " morning " ; cilia is the technical 
expression for "morning"; te-cilla, "in the morning"; zoo-cilia, 
piye-zoo-cilla, or toa-tillani-copijcha, " the quarter of the heavens be- 
longing to the morning ", " the east ", or " where the sun rises ", 
Xilla and chilla are phonetic variants of cilia. We must probably 
accept " bright " as the exact meaning of xee. Alone or accompanied 
by the root ati xee is often used with the meaning " pure ". A direct 
reference to the morning lies in the words quixee and quixij , properly 
" the coming morning ", which are used for " to-morrow ", that is, 
" the next day ". 

"The lord of the beginning" (Coqui-Xee, Coqui-Cilla), or "the 
great beginning" (Xee-Tao, Pixee-Tao, Cilia Tao), is thus properly 
" the lord of growing bright, of the morning ". Translated into Mex- 
ican it would read Tlauizcalpan Tecutli. The Mexicans used this 
Avord for the morning star. 

An entirely different meaning lies in the third word. Pij, or chij, 
for p and ch are here and frequently in Zapotec interchangeable,'* 
means " to be turned ", " to turn oneself ". From that is developed, 
on the one hand, the meaning pij, pije, chije, piyee, pee, " that which 
whirls ", " the wind " ; on the other hand, the meaning quoted above 
of pije, piye "(rotation, rotation of time), calendar " and chij, chee, 
yee, " course of time ", " time ", " clay ". The latter meaning does not 
concern us here. But from the meaning, " wind ", the further ones of 
" breath ", " respiration " * and " inner vital principle ", " soul ", 
"spirit"" have been developed, and we must refer to this for the 
names of the creative deity quoted above. Pije-Tao and Pij-Xoo are 
" the great wind ", " the strong wind " and " the great, the strong, 
powerful (living) spirit ". 

Finally, the fourth w^ord, nij, is the same as nij a, which means 
" foot ", " lower end ", " beginning ". Coqiii-Nij is therefore only 
another, a prosaic, expression for the meaning which lies in the name 
Coqui-Xee, Coqui-Cilla. 

However, the association of ideas which arises from the use for the 

« This interchangeableness evidently occurs in tlie case before us because the root is 
properly ii or ee, which is combined with a prefix (originally nominal) for the forma- 
tion of an enlarged stem. 

" Cobaa, pee, pije, chije, " anliellto " (Juan de Cordova, Vocabulario). 

<^ Pij, chije, " viento, anima, y espiritu " (Juan de Cordova, Vocabulario). 



286 BUKEAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

creative deity of names of different origin, preserved by the Vocabu- 
lary, has also another interesting and important side. I have trans- 
lated above the Coqiii-Xee, Coqui-Cilla, of the Zapotecs by the Mex- 
ican name Tlauizcalpan Tecutli. If we should seek to translate 
Pije-Tao, Pije-Xoo, into Mexican, then a strictly synonymous, though 
by no means literal, rendering would be the name Quetzalcoatl. 
Here we find a connecting link, which throws light upon the logic 
of the relation between objects and ideas that have hitherto existed 
rather incongruously side by side. The Mexican legend tells of 
the wind god Quetzalcoatl that after his death or after his dis- 
appearance in the sea of the east he changed himself into Tlauiz- 
calpan Tecutli, the lord of the dawn, that is, the morning star, the 
planet Venus. The Zapotec names explain this change to us ; for it is 
the creative deity who is at once the soul, the spirit, the living prin- 
ciple of all things and the lord of the dawn, of the coming day, who is 
conceived of as merged in the star of the dawn, the luminous planet, 
which was called Pelle-Nij by the Zapotecs and Citlalpol, ''the 
great star ", by the Mexicans. It appears, moreover, from the fres- 
coes which are reproduced in this work, as we shall see below, that 
Quetzalcoatl occupied in fact the central place in the Zapotec 
Olympus, at least as he was understood and presumably expounded 
by the priests. 

"^ Tlauizcalpan Tecutli, the lord of the dawn and of the evening twi- 
light, who is also designated by the interpreter as the first light 
which illuminated the earth in the period before the flood, that is, 
before the creation of the sun, is represented in the calendar opposite 
the fire god in the ninth section, which begins with the day " 1 snake". 
As the representations of this god are important also for future dis- 
cussion, I have given them together in figures 62 and 63, taken from 
Codices Borgia, page 46, Vaticanus B, page 40, and Telleriano- 
Remensis II, page 14, and the Tonalamatl of the Aubin collection. 

Coqui-Xee, Coqui-Cilla, the " lord of dawn ", and Pije-Tao, Pije- 
Xoo, the "mighty, strong wind", however, designate, as it were, 
merely the principle, the essence of the creative deity or of deity in 
general, without reference to the act of creating the world and 
human beings. In respect to this event itself the mythologies of the 
Central Americans, as well as those of most of the peoples of the 
earth, have placed at the beginning of things a male and female 
deity. These were called by the Mexicans Tonacatecutli and Tona- 
caciuatl, " lord " and " mistress of our flesh '' or " of subsistence ", or 
Ometecutli Omeciuatl, " lords of duality ". In the calendars they 
occupy the first place and are represented as the deities dominating 
the beginning, the first division, whose initial sign is " 1 crocodile ". 
They are figured always clothed in light, varied, and rich colors. 

The male deity is more or less definitely identified with the sky, the 



sblek] 



DEITIES AND KELIGIOUS CONCEPTIONS 



287 



sun, or the fire god, who was at the same time the god of the chase 
and of war ; the female deity, with the earth or the water, tlie element 





Fig. 63. Deity of the morning star, from a Mexican codex. 



which imparts friiitfulness to the earth. Thus in the Tonalamatl of 
the Aubin collection, on the first page, the fire god and the water god- 




'iiiiniiiniinni nniiini iitJ i /iin iiiinminA 

a b 

Fig. 63. Figures of the deity of the morning star, from Mexican codices. 

dess are placed opposite one another as rulers of the first section of 
the calendar. 



288 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

We find a similar notion among the Zapotecs. Under the heading 
criador, " creator ", the dictionary of Father Juan de Cordova gives 
the following two different deities : 

Cozaana, Pitoo-Cozaana, 

"Creator, the maker of all beasts" (Criador, 6 hacedor de todas los ani- 
males). 
Huichaana, 

" Creator, the maker of men and of flshes " (Criador asi de los hombres y 
peces). 

Zaana means " to give birth ", " to beget " ; and Xaana, chaana, are 
probably mere phonetic variants of the same stem. Cozaana, how- 
ever, is the nomen agentis, formed directly from this stem, and there- 
fore means " one who gives birth " or " procreator ". Huichaana, 
Huechaana imply a causative formed from this stem. Cozaana and 
Huichaana and Huechaana are both used alike for " descent ", " race" 
(linaje generalmente) . Hence word analysis does not suffice to 
determine what deities are meant by the above names, and we shall 
have to look for other applications of these expressions, and these 
other applications will make it possible to determine the deities 
without possibility of error. 

Cozaana is used concerning the sun. The proper Zapotec name for 
the sun is copijcha. It has also a briefer name, pitoo, as in Mexican it 
has the name Teotl, that is, " god ". But as the " great procreator of 
all things" (el Sol con forme al engendrar las cosas que las engendra) , 
the dictionary calls it Cozaana-tao quizaha-lao. It seems, therefore, 
as if we ought to accept this as the original meaning of Pitoo- 
Cozaana; the sun as the male portion of the creative deity; and if 
this Pitoo-Cozaana was designated sj^ecially as creator of beasts, also 
as " god of the chase " and as " god of beasts, to whom the hunter and 
the fisher sacrificed in order to be helped ", it seems as if we must re- 
call also the Mexican point of view, according to which the sun god 
is also looked upon as the god of the chase and of war. This concej)- 
tion, however, is in a measure contradicted by the fact that in two 
places in the dictionary Cozaana is spoken of, according to the proper 
meaning of the word, as " procreatrix " (engendradora, procrea- 
dora) of beasts and of fishes. Since, now, the beasts of the woods and 
fields, as we shall see below, are brought into especial connection 
with the earth, it is still possible that Cozaana also has this meaning 
and is to be considered as designating either the female portion of the 
dual creator or, as the male portion, a god of the earth and lord of 
beasts. 

Huechaana, Huichana, is translated also in the dictionary by 
" water ", " element of water ", and Huichaana, Pitao-Huichaana, Co- 
chana, Huichaana, by " god, or goddess, of little children, or of birth, 
to whom those giving birth sacrificed " (dios o diosa de los nifios, 6 
de la generacion, a quien las paridas sacrificavan). Hence it is clear 



SELER] DEITIES AND RELIGIOUS CONCEPTIONS 289 

that this is the female part of the creative deity who, as I noted above, 
is represented opposite the male creative deity, the fire god, in the 
Tonalamatl of the Aubin collection in the form of the water goddess, 
Chalchiuhtlicue ; and this, its special meaning, explains the singular 
combination by which, as stated above, Huichaana is called the cre- 
ator, or rather the creatrix, of men and of fishes. 

In this connection I must mention a legend, which is not told of the 
Zapotecs themselves but of that fragment of the Mixtec nation which 
lived in the immediate neighborhood of the royal city of the Zapotecs., 
in the jjlace called Coyolapan by the Mexicans, the present Cuilapa. 

This legend, contained in chapter 4, book 5, of Origen de los Indios, 
by Fray Gregorio Garcia, which otherwise contributes very little to 
the ancient history of Central America, gives the following account 
of the origin of things : 

In the year and in the day of obscurity and darlvness, wlien there were as yet 
no days nor years, the world was a chaos sunlv in darkness, while the earth was 
covered with water, on whieli slime and scum floated. One day the deer god 
(el dios Ciervo), who bore the surname "puma snake" (Culebra de Leon), and 
the beautiful deer goddess (diosa Ciervo) or jaguar snake (Culebra de Tigre) 
appeared. They had human form, and with their great knowledge [that is, 
probably with their magic! they raised a great cliff over the water and built on 
it fine palaces for their dwelling. On the summit of this cliff they laid a copper 
ax with the edge upward, and on this edge the heavens rested. These build- 
ings stood in Upper Mixteca, close to the place Apoala," and the cliff was 
called " place where the heavens stood ". The gods lived many centuries in 
peace, enjoying bliss, until it happened that they had two little boys, beautiful 
of form and skilled and experienced in all arts. For the days of their birth 
they were named "Wind 9 Snake" (Viento de neuve Culebras) and "Wind 9 
Cave" (Viento de neuve Cavernas). 

ISIuch was lavished on their education, and they possessed the knowledge of 
how to change themselves into an eagle or a snake, to make themselves invisible, 
and even to pass through (solid) bodies. 

While these gods were enjoying the profoundest peace (passed their days 
in profoundest peace) they decided to make an offering and a sacrifice to their 
ancestors. They took for this purpose pottery incense vessels, placed firebrands 
in them, and burned a quantity of finely ground poison plant (tobacco). That 
was the first offering (to the gods). Then they made a garden with plants 
and flowers, trees and fruit-bearing plants, and sweet-scented herbs. Adjoin- 
ing this they made a grass-grown level place (,un prado) and equipped it with 
everything necessary for sacrifice. The pious brothers lived contentedly on 
that piece of ground, tilled it, burned poison plant (tobacco), and with prayers, 
vows, and promises they supplicated their ancestors to let the light appear, to 
let the water collect in certain places, and the earth be freed from its covering 
(water), for they had no more than that little garden for their subsistence. 
In order to strengthen their prayer they pierced their ears and their tongues 
with pointed knives of flint and sprinkled the blood on the trees and plants with 
a brush of willow twigs. 

"Apoala (Mexican A-pouallan, "accumulation of water") is the Mixtec Yuta-Tnotio, or 
Yuta-Tnuhu, " the river of generation "', where the ancestors of the Mixtec rulers are said 
to have come forth from trees which stood by a deep cafiada. 

7238— No. 28—05 19 



290 BUREAU OF AMEEICAlSr ETHNOLOGY [bull. 2S 

The deer gods had more sons and daughters; but there came a flood in 
which many of these perished. After the catastrophe was over the god who 
is called the " creator of all things " formed the heavens and the earth and 
restored the human race. 

Thus we have here the primal pair of gods and the actual creator 
god who procured for men light and the other conditions of human 
existence by means of his endeavors and self -castigation. . The 
former, since they were designated as " deer god " and " deer god- 
dess ", were probably also considered as the father and the mother 
of animals, like the Pitoo-Cozaana of the Zapotecs. The latter, the 
real practical creative god, has, as among the Zapotecs, an unmis- 
takable connection with Quetzalcoatl, since the two names given 
here are combined with the determinative word " wind " ; but this 
practical creative god is here conceived of as twin brothers. The 
names " 9 snake " and " 9 cave " appear to have been intended to 
mean the light and the dark brother. The second name is inter- 
esting because the word " cave " evidently forms the connecting idea 
between the Mexican Calli, " house ", and the Maya and Zapotec 
Akbal and Ela, " night ", the names of the third day sign, which 
apparently differ so very much from one another. Moreover, a dual 
nature is also indicated in Quetzalcoatl, since the name, as we know, 
can be translated " decorative feather snake " as well as " the precious 
twin ". Xolotl appears in the calendar pictures as the twin brother 
of Quetzalcoatl. He is the sinister god of monstrosities, who wears 
the eca-ilacatz-cozquitl, the spirally-twisted wind ornament (cut 
from a snail shell), and the ear pendants made from the shell of the 
whelk, and also the head ornament of Quetzalcoatl. 

The primal pair of gods,- as I have already mentioned, occupy the 
first place in the calendars of the picture writings, as rulers of the 
first section. In conformity with the peculiar position which Quetzal- 
coatl occupies in relation to the primal pair of gods and as the 
creator of the world and man, he follows the primal gods, coming 
second, as the ruler of the second division of the calendar. In the 
third place, as ruler of the section beginning with the day " 1 deer ", 
there then follows a god in the form of a jaguar, Avho sits above 
a mountain cave, before him the sign of war (shield, bundle of 
javelins, and spiked club), food (a vessel with maize and a pulque 
jar), and a costly neck ornament, and opposite him, in some manu- 
scripts (Codices Telleriano-Kemensis and Vaticanus A), Q.uetzalco- 
atl, and in others (Codices Borgia, page 52, and Vaticanus B, page 
46), the earth goddess Tlazolteotl or Tlaelquani, who apparently bring 
a bound captive to him for sacrifice (see figure 64, which is copied from 
the Borgian codex, page 52). There, where in the series of gods of 
the day signs this god Avould be expected to be with his female com- 



sblbe] 



DEITIES AND RELIGIOUS CONCEPTIONS 



291 



panion, at the third day sign Calli, " house " (or Zapotec Ela, Mr.ya 
Akbal, " night"), is the earth goddess alone expressed by the hiero- 
glyph of her name Tlaelquani, " dirt eater ", namely, by the picture of 
a man eating his own excrement, with the symbol of the moon (fig- 
ure 65). 




Fig. 64. Tepeyollotl ar.d Tlacolteotl, Mexican deities, from the Borgian codex. 

This god of the third calendar section is named Tepeolotlec by the 
interpreter of the Codex Telleriano-Eemensis. This is evidently only 
a distortion of Tepeyollotl, "heart of the mountain (of the place, 
village, country)", who was named as the eighth of the series of the 
nine lords, the so-called " acompahados de la noche ", and who (Bor- 




FiG. 65. Tlaelquani, Mexican goddess, from the Borgian codex. 

gian codex, page 25) is represented in the form of figure 66. The 
interpreter makes the following remark concerning Tepeolotlec: 

This name refers to the condition of the earth after the flood. The sacrifices 
of these 13 days were not good, and the translation of their name is " dirt sacri- 
fices ". They caused palsy and bad humors . . . This Tepeolotlec was lord 
of these 13 days ; in them were celebrated the teast to the jaguar (haziau la 
fiesta en data a tigre) and the four last preceding days were days of fast- 
ing . . . Tepeolotlec means the " lord of beasts ". The four feast days 
were in honer of the Suchiquezal, who was the man that remained behind on 
the earth upon which we now live. This Tepeolotlec is the same as the echo of 



292 



BUREAU OF AMEEICAIST ETHNOLOGY 



[bull. 28 




Fig. 



TepeyoUotl, Mexican deity, fi-om the 
Borgian codex. 



the voice, wheu it reeclioes in a valley from one mountain to another. . . . 
This name " jaguar " is given to the earth, because the jaguar is the boldest 
animal, and the echo which the voice awaiiens in the mountains is a survival 
of the flood, it is said. 

The above description makes it plain that this figure must be con- 
sidered a deity of the earth, of the hollow interior of the earth and 
the mountain wilderness, who 
has nothing to do with the 
light, pure upper regions. We 
seek in vain for mention of 
this deity and for statements 
concerning his worship in the 
works of the historians who 
lived near the capital of Mex- 
ico in the midst of Mexican - 
speaking people, and who 
therefore drew their infor 
mation chiefly or exclusively 
fro m Mexican traditions. 
Neither Sahagun, Duran, Mo- 
tolinia, nor Mendieta men- 
tion this ■ god. On the other 
hand, we have reliable information that in the territory with which 
we are here concerned, and indeed among both the kindred nations of 
the Mixtecs and Zapbtecs, he was known and even received special 
veneration. 

As Yoopaa, or Mictlan, was the holy city of the Zapotecs, so Nuu- 
ndecu, or Achiotlan ("the place of the Bixa Orellana"), was the 
holy city of the Mixtecs, where the high priest had his abode and 
where there was a far-famed oracle, Avhich indeed King Motecuhzoma 
is said to have consulted when he was disturbed by the news of the 
landing of Cortes. The chief sanctuary was situated on the highest 
peak of a mountain. Here, as Father Burgoa relates, " there was 
among other altars one of an idol " which they called the ' heart of 
the place or of the. country (Corazon del Pueblo)', and which re- 
ceived great honor. The material aa as of marvelous value, for it was 
an emerald of the size of a thick pepper jDod (capsicum), upon which 
a small bird was engraved with the greatest skill, and, with the same 
skill, a small serpent coiled ready to strike. The stone was so trans- 
parent that it shone from its interior with the brightness of a can- 
dle flame. It was a very old jewel, and there is no tradition extant 
concerning the origin of its veneration and worship ". The first 
missionary of Achiotlan, Fray Benito, afterward visited this place 



" Work cited, cliap. 28. 



SELER] DEITIES AND EELIGIOUS CONCEPTIONS 293 

of worship and succeeded in persuading- the Indians to surrender the 
idol to him. He had the stone ground uj), although a Spaniard 
offered 3,000 ducats for it, stirred the powder in water, and poured 
it upon the earth and trod upon it, in order at the same time to 
destro}^ the heathen abomination entirely, and to demonstrate in 
the sight of all the impotence of the idol. It is worthy of notice 
that there existed in the immediate neighborhood of this place of 
worship, in the middle of the i:)lain of Yancuitlan, a second sanctuary, 
which also had a high priest, who, however, was subordinate to the 
one at Achiotlan. This sanctuary consisted of a great cave, in the 
rear of which the idol was set up." To a certain extent it seems to 
have been considered equivalent to the aforesaid sanctuary situated 
on the summit of the mountain, for it is said that those who came 
hither from a distance, those who were hindered by their inability to 
walk so far, and the women, who could not climb the rugged moun- 
tains of Achiotlan, made their offerings here. 

It is true that, as far as the Zapotec territory is concerned, this god 
is not expressly named in connection with the chief sanctuary of the 
country at Mitla ; but in the neighborhood of Tehuantepec, on the 
great salt-water lagoon, which was called in Burgoa's time " Laguna 
de San Dionisio ", and which was inhabited hj the small tribe of the 
Iluaves, there was, as Burgoa relates,'' a small wooded island shaped 
like a temple pyramid and abounding in game. Upon this island was 
" a deep and extensive cave, where the Zapotecs had one of their most 
important and most revered idols, and they called it ' soul and heart 
of the kingdom (Alma y Corazon del Reyno)' because these barba- 
rians Avere persuaded that this fabulous deity was Atlas, upon whom 
the land rested and who bore it on his shoulders, and when he moved 
his shoulders the earth was shaken Avith unwonted tremblings; and 
from his favor came the victories which they won and the fruitful 
years which yielded thern the means of living ''. There was an oracle 
connected also with this temple, and the last king of Tehuantepec, 
Cocijo-Pij, is said to have received liere from the god the information 
that the rule of the Mexicans was at an end and that it was not pos- 
sible to withstand the Spaniards. When the baptized king was later 
seized and imprisoned on account of his falling back into idolatry 
the vicar of Tehuantepec, Fray Bernardo de Santa Maria, sought 
out the island, forced his Avay into the cave, and found there a large 
quadrangular chamber, carefully swept, with altarlike structures 
around on the sides, and on them many incense vessels, rich and costly 
offerings of valuable materials, gorgeous feathers, and disks and neck- 
laces of gold, most of them sprinkled with freshly drawn blood. 
There is no record of finding an idol here. Unlike the padre Fray 

" Burgoa, work cited, chap. 32. " Work cited, chaps. 72 and 75. 



'294 BUREAU OF AMERICAlsr ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

Benito, the vicar of Tehuantepec seized all these ornaments, an inven- 
tory was taken, and by order of the viceroy the proceeds of the sale of 
these objects were employed for the benefit of the church. 

It is certain that the expressions mentioned here, " Corazon del 
Pueblo " and " Corazon del Reyno " are only translations of the name 
Tepeyollotl, for tepetl means in Mexican not merely "mountain", 
but also '' place " ; tepe-pan, " in the place ", " in the country " ; cecen 
tepepan is translated in Molina's dictionary by " in every town " (en 
cada pueblo 6 ciudad). The Mixtec translation of the name Tepe- 
3^ollotl would probably have been Jni-nuu; and the Zapotec, Lachi- 
Gueche. However, no deities of any such names are mentioned. 
According to the passage last quoted it may nevertheless be assumed 
with certainty that this god, Corazon del Reyno, was a deity of the 
earth and that earthquakes were ascribed to him. It is therefore 
probable that he is identical with the god who is mentioned in the 
dictionary of Father Juan de Cordova as Pitao-Xoo, " god of earth- 
quakes " (dios de los temblores cle tierra). 

Moreover, the Imowledge and the worship of this god was not con- 
fined to the Mixtec or Zapotec races, but existed, perhaps more exten- 
sively, among the Maya tribes bordering on the south, the Zotzils and 
the Tzentals, for there is no doubt that the often-mentioned god 
Votan of the Tzentals is identical with Tepeyollotl, hence with 
the Zapotec Pitao-Xoo. This appears from the etymology of the 
name, which, it seems, means in Tzental, simply, " heart ", " breast ".« 
This is furthermore expressly mentioned by Bishop Nunez de la Vega, 
who states at the conclusion of the paragraph referred to that this 
god Avas called in some provinces Corazon de los Pueblos ; and, finally, 
this is proved by the fact that this Votan is also the ruler of the third 
day sign. The third day sign, that is, the sign which the Mexicans 
call Calli, " house '", and the other Maya races generally call Akba], 
'' night ", by the Tzentals is simply called Votan, after the god him- 
self. I quote here the statement Avhich Bishop Nuhez de la Vega 
makes concerning this deity, because it serves to complete the picture 
in some particulars. The bishop Avrites :^ 

Votan is the third heathen in the calendar [that is, the deity who is ascribed to 
the third division of the calendar], and In the little history written in the Indian 
language all the provinces and cities in which he tarried were mentioned ; and to 
this day there is always a clan in the city of Teopisa that they call the Votans. 
It is also said that he is the lord of the hollow wooden instrument which they call 
tepanaguaste [that is, the Mexican teponaztli] ; that he saw the great wall, 
namely, the tower of Babel, which was built from earth to heaven at the bidding 



"Brinton has proved this in bis book Hero Myths, p. 217. In a copy of bilingLml 
directions for administering the sacrament, of the year 1707, which is in Brinton's 
possession, the following passage occurs: Ta zpizil aiiotan, "con todo In corazon (with 
all thy heart)"; xatigh xny anotan, " hirrendote en los pechos (wounding thee in the 
bosom)"; zghoyoc alagh ghoyoc, " di conmigo (spealc with me)". 

'' Nuiiez de la Vega, Constituciones Diocesauas I'reambulo, no. 34. sec. 30. 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY ^ 



BULLETIN 28 PLATE XXXII 



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RELIEF DESIGNS FROM THE WALLS AT MITLA 



seler] 



DEITIES AND RELIGIOUS CONCEPTIONS 



295 



of hi^ grandfather. Noali ; and that he was the first man whom God sent to 
divide and apportion this country of India, and that there, where he saw the 
o-reat wall, he gave to every nation its special language. It is related that he 
tarried in Huehueta [which is a city in Soconusoo] and that there he placed a 
tapir "and a great treasure in a slippery [damp, dark, subterranean] house, 
which he built by the breath of his nostri , and he appointed a woman as 
chieftain, with tapianes [tnat is, Mexican tiapiani, "keepers"] to guard her. 
This ti-easure consisted of jars, which were closed with covers of the same clay, 
and of a room in which the picture of the ancient heathens who are in the cal- 
endar were engraved in stone, together with chalchiuites [which are small, 
heavy green stones] and other superstitious images; and the chieftamess her- 
self and the tapianes. her guardians, surrendered all these things, which were 
publicly burned in the market place of Huehueta when we inspected the afore- 
said province in 1091. All the Indians greatly revere this Votan, and lu a 
certain province they call him " heart of the cities " (Corazon de los pueblos). 

Thus writes Nunez de la Vega. I add in conclusion that the bat 
o-od also, who was the national god of the Cakchikels, whose form is 



t^UU 






b ■ c d 

Fig. 67. Mexican symbols and figures of deities, from tlie Mendoza codex and tlie 

Saliasnn manuscript. 

frequently met with on antiquities in Guatemala and Yucatan, and 
whose picture, as I have proved," is to be found in the Borgian, Vati- 
canus B, and Fejervary codices, may have had some remote connection 
with this Pitao-Xoo, Tepeyollotl, or Yotan. 

The sun, as I mentioned above, was called by the Zapotecs Copijcha 
or, more briefly, Pitoo, " the god ". So also the Mexicans in familiar 
speech frequently said Teotl, "god", when they meant the sun; 
Teotl ac, " the god has gone in (gone into the house)", is equivalent 
to the " sun has gone down " ; and wherever in Mexican city hiero- 
glyphs the svllable teo was to be represented it is always expressed 
by the picture of the sun (a, figure 67) . The cities also whose names 
contained the syllable teo were generally ancient seats of sun worship- 

«Zeltschrift fiir Ethnologie, v. 26, 1894, pp. (577)-(585). 



296 BUREAU OF AMERICAN" ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

like the famous Teotihuacan, abandoned in prehistoric times, where in 
the midst of desolated fields and tlie flat mounds which indicate the 
sites of ancient dwellings still rise the two high pyramids of the sun 
and the moon. 

There is no actual record of sun worship among the ancient Zapo- 
tecs ; but there was, and is, in the ancient tribal countr}^ of the Zapo- 
tecs, in the Valle de Oaxaca, a place which is called in Mexican 
Teotitlan, " near the sun god " ; in Zapotec, Xa-Quie, " at the foot of 
the stone ". This village, as Father Burgoa relates," was one of the 
most important and oldest cities of the Zapotecs, and there, on a rocky 
crag, directly opj)osite the houses of the village, was a very ancient 
sanctuary, where an idol uttered oracles in a terrific, rumbling voice, 
which sounded as if it came from the depths of the earth ; and 
this idol was said " to have come from heaven, in the form of a bird, 
in a luminous constellation" (fingienclo haver venido del cielo, en 
figura de ave, en una lumiosa constelacion). 

It admits of no doubt that this luminous bird is to be regarded 
merely as a particular conception of the sun god. So also descended 
about noon in Izamal, as Father Lizana relates,^ the idol called 
Kinich Kakmo, which means, " sun Avith a face whose rays were of 
fire ", to consume the sacrifice on the altar, " as the red guacamayo 
(macaw) flies down with his bright feathers ". We often meet witli 
similar conceptions on the American continent. The Zapotecs called 
the sun's rays simply " foot, sting, or plumage of the sun '' (xinnij, 
xicoocho, xilouela copijcha).'^^ 

This Zapotec Teotitlan generally had the addition del valle (" of 
the valley"), to distinguish it from the Teotitlan which is situated 
on the road from Oaxaca, on the boundaries of the Mazateca, and 
which on that account generally receives the addition of del camino 
("of the road") (see the hieroglyjDh in a). Herrera makes some 
statements concerning the latter place,*^ from which it would seem 
that there the god Xipe, " the flayed one ", received special wor- 
ship. In fact, a number of characteristic Xipe representations 
from Teotitlan del camino have found tli^ir way into the collec- 
tions, together with representations of the rain god. The Eoyal 
Museum of Ethnology in Berlin possesses a beautiful large pottery 
image of Xipe, which Professor Felix obtained in Teotithm del cam- 
ino. But, during my stay in that place, I found most frequently 
complete figures and fragments of a deity distinguished by a white 

° Work cited, chap. 53. 

6 Historia de Yucatan, Devoclonario de Nuestra Sefiora de Izmal, Valludolid, 1633, 
la. part 7, chap. 4. 

"■ Compare lohiie, " plumas, las ordenes dellas que tieueu lospapagallos en si (feathers, 
the kinds thereof that parrots have on them)"; Lohue-yfiche, "las amarillas (the yel- 
low) " : Lohu6-yaa, " las azules (the hliie) " ; Lohue-naxinaa, L. huijta, " las coloradas 
(the red)" (.Juan de Cordova, Vocahiilario). 

"Decada III, book 3, chap. IS, p. 102. 



DEITIES AND RELIGIOUS COKCEPTIONS 



297 



design resembling a butterfly about the mouth, whose face, painted 
in many colors, looks out of the open jaws of a bird with a tall 
and erect crest. We succeeded in bringing home a complete spec- 
imen of this sort, which is now in the Royal Museum of Eth- 
nology in Berlin, and a copy of this (front and side views) is given 
on plate xlii, reproduced by photographic process. The worship 
of this deity, who, in character is evidently identical with the idol of 
the Zapotec Teotitlan del valle, seems to have been remarkably wide- 
spread. Countless stone images of this deity, of whose bird's-head 
mask only the towering crest remained, have been found in the moun- 
tains of the slope toward the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, in those 
strips of. territory which succumbed to the so-called Chichimec inva- 
sion, the expansion of the highland Nahua tribes. In the capital, 
Mexico, this deity was known under the name of Macuil-xochitl, 
" 5 flower ", and was regarded as the deity of luck in gaming.'^ He 
has a dark brother, to whoni the name Ixtlilton, " the little black- 
face ", was given in Mexico, and to him they turned for help when 




a ]j 

Fig. 68. Gods Maciiil-xoeliitl and Ixtlilton, from Mexican codices. 

their children were ill. I have reproduced (in c and d, figure 67) the 
representations of these two deities as they are given in the Sahagun 
manuscript of the Biblioteca del Palacio. These pictures also show 
that there is left of the bird's-head mask only the erect feather crest, 
with a wing as an ornament or device to be worn on the back. 

A characteristic group, which evidently represents these same two 
deities, is found in the Fejervary codex, page 21, the fourth in a set of 
six pairs of gods («, figure 68). These two deities have a somewhat 
different form in the parallel passage of Codex Vaticanus B, page 
58, which is reproduced in h, figure 68. 

That the deity of the Zapotec Teotitlan del valle was considered 
by the Mexicans the same as their Macuil-xochitl appears to follow 

" I have given more careful proof of this in my worlc Das Tonalamatl der Au- 
bmscheu Sammlung (Compte rendu 7eme Session du Congr&s international des 
Americanistes, Berlin, 1888), p. 723 and following, and in my Altmexikanische Studien 
(Veroffentlichungen aus dem Koniglichea Museum fiir Volkerkunde zu Berlin, Band I 
Heft 4} pp. 162-164. 



298 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



[bull. 28 



from the fact that in the unmediate neighborhood of this place there 
was another place called Quije-quilli, " garland of flowers ", by the 
Zapotecs, but by the Mexicans, Macuilxochic. "in Macuil-xochitl's 
village " (see the glyph, 6, figaire 67). 

Nothing remains to-day of the magnificent buildings of the Zapotec 
Teotitlan del valle, but portions of the ancient buildings, stone 
mosaics with geometric designs of the fashion of those of Mitla 
and fragments of reliefs are here and there found embedded in the 




Fig. 69. Zapotec relief fragments from Teotitlan. 

walls of houses and churches in Teotitlan, as well as in those of the 
neighboring Macuilxochic. Other pieces have already been placed 
in the Museo de Oaxaca. A\aiat relief fragments I have met with I 
have reproduced in figures 69 and 70, which are, of course, only 
sketches and make no pretensions to special accuracy. The frag- 
ments in 6 and c, figure 70, are now in the museum at Oaxaca; 6, 
figure 69, was still to be seen in IN'Iacuilxochic when I was there, while 
a, figure 69, and a, figure 70, are embedded in the wall of the church of 
Teotitlan del valle. It is quite evident that the reliefs exhibit, 



Sbler] 



DEITIES AND RELIGIOUS CONCEPTIONS 



299 



besides the jaguar, the special local deity, a man whose face is held 
by the jaws of a bird; that is, the god who came down from 




5 c 

Fig. 70. Zapotec relief fragments from Teotitlan. 

heaven in the form of a bird. A sharply defined feather crest on the 
top of the head is seen here, as in the pottery idols of the Maciiil- 



300 BUREAU OF AMEEICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

xochitl of Teotitlan del camino, and this again points to the identity 
of the deities worshiped in both cities. 

As to the other conceptions of the sun held by the Zapotecs, Juan 
del Cordova mentions in his grammar « the remarkable impression 
which the eclipse of the sun made on the ancient Zapotecs. They 
feared nothing less than the end of the world, war of all against all, 
and murder on all sides; and since they had a notion that dwarfs 
were created at the bidding of the sun, when an event like the 
one above mentioned occurred they seized upon all dwarfed persons 
wherever found and sacrificed them, in this way paying their debt 
to the sun, as it were, by restoring that which belonged to it. 

There is not much to be extracted from literature concerning 
the other deities Avorshipped by the • Zapotecs. Besides the sun, the 
moon, certainly also some of the stars, received a certain sort of 
worship. Of "the moon the Zapotecs believed, as did the Mexicans 
and other peoples, that the women stood in special relation to it. 
If there was an eclipse of the moon, they thought it indicated the 
death of the waves of the caciques and chieftains.^' I have already 
spoken of the morning star and its relation to the wind god and the 
creative deities. Moreover, the Pleiades seem to have been especially 
regarded, and the Zapotecs called them Pizaana-Cache, the " seven 

boys '\ 

The rain god, who, as I have already stated above, was called 
Cocijo by the Zapotecs, evidently had a special significance. With- 
out doubt he was entirely similar in form and conception to the Mex- 
ican Tlaloc. Large stone images and small figures with the char- 
acteristic features of Tlaloc have been frequently found also in the 
Zapotec country ; and, as I have stated above, children in particular 
were sacrificed' to the rain god among both the Mexicans and the 

Zapotecs. 

A god whom the dictionary calls Pitao-Cozobi, " god of the har- 
vests''' (dios de las mieses), appears to have stood in a certain rela- 
tion to the rain god. Human sacrifices were also made to him, and 
the people sacrificed to him were called peni-nije, peni-quij-nije, or 

peni-cocijo. 

A special cereuiony relating to the increase of the fruits of the 
field was recorded from the village of Quiecolani. Father Burgoa 
relates^ that at the time of harvesting in this village, Avhich Avas 
famed throughout tlie province for the quantity, size, and superiority 
of its maize, tlie ear which was the largest, fullest, and most conspicu- 
ous for its beauty and the perfection of its kernels was selected, and 
this was honored with demonstrations of all kinds; "for th ev said 

"Arte del idionin /npoteco. p. 215. ".luan de Cordova. Arte. p. 215. 

'■ Work cited, chap. 67. 



/ 




SELBR] DEITIES AND RELIGIOUS CONCEPTIONS 301 

that in it the god was present who had furnished them with every- 
thing besides, and, as the abode of the god, they, with much burning 
of incense, addressed Avorship and prayers to it while they placed it 
upright on an altar and honored it with songs and merry dances. 
They dressed it in clothes, which were made according to its 
measure, and hung upon it small green stones which were their 
jewels, and after they had offered it sacrifice it was rolled iii a 
white cotton cloth and thus preserved. When the season for plow- 
ing the land and planting the seed returned they notified and 
summoned the priests, and the foremost men of the village assem- 
bled in the house where the gaily decked ear of maize was kept, and 
after repeating the heathenish ceremonies in its honor they begged 
its permission to carry it out to watch over the fields; and then a 
priest took it, rolled it in a clean deerskin which he had brought 
with him for this purpose, and they all went together to a place 
in the midst of their planted fields, where they had made for it 
of stones an ovenlike hole in the ground, and in this they placed it, 
Avith much burning of incense, and earnestly besought it to take 
under its gracious protection the seeds of these poor men who hoped 
for their means of subsistence at its hands, and they covered the 
place [with earth] so that they could see it from afar Avithout anyone 
daring to approach. If the year Avas a fruitful one, they took it out 
with great solemnity at the harvesting of the crops, thanked it for 
the liberality Avith Avhich it had given them food, and the ear of 
maize, Avhich had become entirely moldy from the dampness, was 
divided among those present as a relic and a sacred object ". 

Pinopiaa, the goddess of the fruitful A^ega of Xalapa, above 
Tehuantepec, seems to have been a deity of the earth. The sanctu- 
ary of this goddess, Avhom later tradition declared to be a daughter 
of the Zapotec king Cocijo-eza Avho had been changed into stone 
after her death, Avas found on the summit of a small mountain, Avhere, 
in the middle of a small plaza, Avere four stone slabs, so placed as 
to form a roof, and under them the idol of the goddess, a cone-shaped 
Avhite stone. When the matter became knoAvn and the monks hunted 
down the priests and devotees of this goddess it Avas found that 
the belief Avas spread among the Christian Indians of Xalapa that 
St. Katharine of Sienna, Avho had her church in one of the quarters 
of Xalapa, Avas identical Avith the goddess Pinopiaa and that the 
special Avorship AAdiich Avas devoted to that saint Avas really meant 
for the daughter of King Cocijo-eza who Avas turned into stone 
after death. '^ 

A number of other deities are mentioned in the dictionary of 
Father Juan cle Cordova, with their functions, but Avithout further 

■^ Burgoa, work cited, chap. 71. 



302 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

particulars as to their position or importance in the system of wor- 
ship. Thus was Coqui-Lao, the "lord of poultry"; Pitao-Peeze, 
Pitao-Quille, or Pitao-Yaxe, the god of merchants and the lord of 
wealth: Pitao-Zij, Pitao-Yaa, or Pitao-Tee, the god of poverty and 
misfortune; Pixee, or Pecala (properly " sleep ", " dream "), the god 
of desire (luxuria, el asmodeo, o demonio que incita, como dicen, el 
dios de amor, "lust, Asmodeus, or the demon who entices, as they say, 
the god of love ") ; Pitao-Xicala, or Pecala, the god of dreams; Pitao- 
Piji, Peezi, or Pijze, the god of omens; and Pitao-Pezelao, the god 
of the underworld. 

Finally, Ave have an abundant and unsophisticated source of infor- 
mation, which ought to give us the key to the mythical conceptions of 
the Zapotecs, in the antiquities of the country, the images of stone 
and especially those of pottery, the large and small figures, the figure 
vessels, the pottery whistles and small pottery heads, found in great 
numbers in the country, which Avas once thickly populated and 
abounds in graves. In an earlier work " I have discussed in detail 
one of the principal types of these antiquities, the remarkable great 
figure vases, distinguished by gigantic head ornaments and a pecu- 
liarly conventionalized face, in which the most conspicuous features 
are puffings over the eyebroAvs and under the eyes and a serpent's 
jaw set into the human countenance. As to the form of the vessels, 
I refer to plate xxxvi, Avhere three vessels from Mitla, now in the 
Museo Nacional de Mexico, are reproduced. The A^essel standing 
on the right side of the page shows the human face Avith the inserted 
serpent's jaw. I have represented other forms in my treatise referred 
to above. They Avere probably all burial vessels. I have selected 
two figures of the picture Avritings to explain the deity represented 
on these vessels. On pages 5, 30, and 33 of the Vienna codex a 
deity is represented Avho is painted in a dark color and, like Ixtlilton 
(see c, figure 67), weaTS a crest decorated with stone kniA^es, and 
about this are.Avound a couple of serpents, Avhile a serpent crawls 
out of his mouth. The deity is designated in each of the three 
passages by the day, " 4 snake ", and in one of them (page 30) he is 
accompanied by a dragon, Avhich bears a sun disk on its back. Oppo- 
site him, as the companion figure, is the Avind god Quetzalcoatl, 
Avho is designated by the day " 9 Avind " and accompanied by a kind 
of serpent Avith a dog's or a jaguar's head («, figure 71). Identical 
Avith this figure of the deity "4 snake" is another (5, figure 71), 
Avhich forms in the Borgian codex, page 14, one of the four deities 
Avho are evidently distributed according to the four points of the 
compass: Tlaloc, this god Avith the serpent in his mouth, Mix- 

«Die sogenannten sakralen Gefilsse der Zapoteken ( Veroffeutllchungen aus dem Konig- 
lichen Museum fiir A'olkerkunde, Bund I, Heft 4, pp. 182-188). 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



3ULLETIN 28 PLATE XXXV 





i-y-M 



^.^--^^CT- 

















POTTERY FRAGMENTS FROM ZAACHILLA AND CUILAPA 



selee] 



DEITIES AND RELIGIOUS CONCEPTIONS 



303 



ciiatl, and Xipe, who, it seems, are referred respectively to the east, 
north, south, and west quarters of the heavens. This god with the 
serpent in his mouth, 5, appeared to me to have features like those 
exhibited by the representation in the same codex, of TepeyoUotl, 
the god of caves, of the interior of the earth (figure 66). He 
is doubtless a deity of the earth and related to the god Tepey- 



■^c^. 




Fig. 71. Mexican deities, from tlie Vienna codex. 



ollotl. Hence the exceedingly frequent representations of this par- 
ticular god on the burial vessels seem only natural. 

I believe we must also consider the various vessels and figures 
exhibiting a jaguar in the act of springing as connected w4th Tepey- 
oUotl, w^ho is represented in the calendars in the form of a jaguar 
(see the vessel on the left side of plate xxxvi). 



304 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

Other figures and vessels evidently represent a female personage or 
a female deity. Thus the two beautiful figure vessels which are 
reproduced in\he middle of plate xxxiii, and on plate xxxiv, which, 
together with the two others, with the serpent face, reproduced 
on plate xxxm, and two plain, low, three-footed vessels, were found 
in a field in the neighborhood of the royal city of the Zapotecs, 
Zachila, or Teotzapotlan. We had the good fortune to be on the spot 
on the very dav when this discovery was made, and were able to add 
these pieces to our collection, aiter some bargaining. They have 
passed with our whole collection into the possession of the Eoyal 
Museum of Ethnology at Berlin. 

I have grouped together in plate xxxv some types of small pottery 
antiquities. We collected the originals partly in the neighborhood 
of Zachila and Cuilapa, partly in Mitla, and partly in Zoquitlan, 
above Totolapan. Some of the heads are the tops of bulbous clay 
whistles, which have two short feet in front, the mouthpiece of the 
whistle forming a third foot behind. (3thers are fragments of flat 
figures, evidentlv modeled in pottery molds. We know that the pot- 
tery whistles were frequently used, together with great whelk shells 
which served as trumpets and other musical instruments, at religious 
ceremonies, especially at the penitential exercises in honor of the ram 
o-od and other deities. They were very often, we may even say very 
c'^enerallv, copies of the figure of a god. Those which come from the 
Yalle de Mexico verv often have the form of the god of gaming, 
song, and dancing, but sometimes those of Xipe and others. Prob- 
ably the small pottery figures were in the main small house idols, 
small images for votive offerings, and the like. 

There are two principal types to be recognized among these Zapotec 
pottery heads and small pottery figures. First, male faces with 
deeply furrowed features, some with beards and some with projecting 
eye teeth, very often with a distinct halo. I believe these must be 
identified with the old god, the male part of the primal pair of gods. 
The other principal type is evidently that of a youthful female deity. 
There is o-enerallv to be recognized over the brow the transversely 
o-rooved pllate and the two eyes of a reptile (alligator), out of whose 
open jaws looks the face of the goddess. These heads therefore 
doubtless represented the earth goddess who grants fertility and 
prosperity. Jaguar heads, or faces which wear a jaguar as a helmet 
mask, are seldom met with among these smaller pottery antiquities, 
and the face with the inserted serpent jaws, which is so frequent m 
the larger figure vessels, the mortuary vessels, seldom or never occur 
amono- them. We obtained, chiefly in Zoquitlan, torsos dressed in 
wadded armor, holding a shield in om' hand and a chib or a lance m. 
the other; but similar ones are also found oc<-asionally among the 
antiquities discovered in other places. 





J— » ' f if". 










SBLEE] DEITIES AND RELIGIOUS CONCEPTIONS 305 

One reflection in particular is forced on us while considering 
these antiquities peculiar to the Zapotec countiy. The types are 
very uniform and very characteristic, and in them can be recognized, 
strictly speaking, only the old creative god (fire god?), the earth 
goddess, TepeyoUotl, and perhaps a Avar god. Among the genuine 
Zapotec antiquities there is no trace to be found of the crowded 
Olympus of the picture writings and its very characteristic figures, 
particularly the forms of Quetzalcoatl, Tezcatlipoca, Xipe, and 
the rest, which we shall meet with again in the frieze of Mitla, while 
among the antiquities of the Valle de Mexico and that portion of 
the highlands bordering upon it the characteristic form of Quetz- 
alcoatl, at least, is often found. Hence the conclusion seems inevi- 
table that the cosmogonic representations referring to Quetzalcoatl, 
explained more fully above, as well as the Olympus with its many 
personages which meets us in the picture writings and which we shall 
find again in the frieze of Mitla, were not properly national, did not 
have their roots in the Zapotec country, but represented a superim- 
posed culture, which owes its origin to the influence of Nahua tribes 
dating back to prehistoric times. 

7238— No. 28—05 20 



EXPLANATION OF THE WALL PAINTINGS 

The fragments of painting reproduced in plates xxxvii to xxxix 
are so arranged that each piece furnished with its special number rep- 
resents a connected strip, and the transition from one number to 
another always means a gap in the painting caused by the destruc- 
tion of the intervening part. It is apparent that only the upper 
parts of the frieze have been preserved. This is very much to be 
regretted, because the figures or groups on these friezes, as in the 
Vienna manuscript, were accompanied by dates, designations of years 
and days, which were certainly, as in. the Vienna codex, doubly im- 
portant, serving, on the one hand, as a connecting bond between the 
series of scenes represented by bringing theui into a definite chro- 
nologic point of view, and, on the other, furnishing the names or des- 
ignations of the personages represented. To be sure, an attempt has 
not yet been made to interpret and decipher all these dates in any of 
the manuscripts of this class. Any such interpretation, however, is 
made forever impossible for the paintings of Mitla, because the lower 
half of the frieze in which the dates stood or down into which they 
extended is entirely destroyed. 

The bands grouped on plate xxxvii belong together in respect to 
their character, inasmuch as they all have for their upper and lateral 
border the " house of the sun ", that is, a band which is formed by 
the regular repetition of the elements of the sun glyph, namely, eyes 
and rays. In fragment 1 these rays are stone knives, between which 
an eye surrounded by rays and eyes looks down, and in the other 
fragments human faces look doAvn surrounded by rays consisting of 
figures resembling eyes. 

The fragments G to 11 belong to the east side of the court adjoining 
Palace I. The others, however, all belong to Palace IV, fragment 1 
to the east side and fragments 2 to 5 to the north side. It appears 
from this that the entire Palace IV must have been dedicated to the 
sun god. This supposition is confirmed by the fact that in the middle 
of the north side of this palace (fragment 5), in a conspicuously 
prominent place, there is a sun glyph, in the middle of which there 
was doubtless a representation of the sun god, but which has been 
cut away, intentionally, as it seems. The north side was the principal 
side in all the palaces. It hiy along the prhicipal axis, since the prin- 
cipal courts of all the palaces open to\^ard the south, and the mam 
building, with its adjoining court, lies on the north side of the chief 

306 



EXPLANATION OF WALL PAINTINGS 



807 



selbr] 

court. Hence the sun glyph in the middle of this side in Palace IV 
must certainly be looked upon as the sign of the palace 

There is in fragment 1, besides pedunculate oculiform elements 
and the stone knives, which here represent the rays of the sun glyph, 
a design, already mentioned, which consists of an eye with an eyebrow 
rolled up at the ends, on which rest elongated (protruding) eyes, 
between which latter are inserted three pointed elements resembling 
ray« In the Mexican figurative symbolism eyes are very generally 
employed to express radiating light. Lustrous stones (emerald, tur- 
qouise and muscovite) are expressed heiroglyphically by a disk that 




Fig. 72. Symbols and figure of deities, from Mexican codices. 

is marked differently according to the nature of the stone, and on its 
circumference are drawn four eyes placed in the form of a cross (see 
the hieroglyph chalchiuitl, '" emerald ", in the pyramidal stmctiire of 
the temple, a, figure 75). The stars shining down from the night 
sky are designated by eyes which are attached to the surface and to 
the rim of a stripe or half circle painted in a dark, nebulous color 
(see the representation of day and night in the middle design of 
figure 58 and the drawing of night with the symbol of the moon, a 
labbit in a watery field, in figure 65 and «, figure 72). 

It seems, therefore, certain that the composite designs in fragment 
1 are intended to represent radiating light. One is even tempted 



308 BUKEAU OP AMEEICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

to ascribe to them a special meaning. If the eyes mean stars, this 
eye snrounded by other radiating eyes might be intended to 
indicate an especially brilliant star ; perhaps Citlalpol, the " great 
star ", that is, the planet Venus. But the conjecture is contradicted 
by the fact that where the planet Venus is plainly expressed in the 
picture writings as an astronomic body it is designated by the date. 
" 1 reed " ; as, for example, in the group m a, figure 72, the symbol of 
the morning star and the moon," which, in the Borgiari codex, page 
44, is drawn beside the great picture of the sun god, and in «, figure 
()3, from the Codex Telleriano-Remensis, beside the deity of the morn- 
ing star. The gleaming eye of fragment 1 is generally represented in 
a blue field, a clear sky, as in 5, figure 72, and a, figure 73, from the Vi- 
enna codex, pages 47 and 48, and in similar pictures in the same codex, 
page 52, where the creative gods are seen enthroned in the clear blue 
sky. In the Borgian codex, pages 62 to 66, are found a number of 
complicated representations which refer to the deities of the four 
I)oints of the compass and of the center, the fifth point of the compass, 
or the interior of the earth. Here the house of the sun, in the east, is 
designated by c, figure 74, in which the yellow-straw roof is seen to be 
provided with a cornice of flowers, while the house of the earth or of 
stone, in the north, is crowned with a row of stone knives, and the 
house of the owl, in the south, is formed entirely of human bones. 
Now, there are houses exactly like this house of the sun in the east on 
certain pages of the Borgian codex, a and 6, figure 75, and in one of 
these is represented Quetzalcoatl, painted red, as the sun god, it 
would seem; in the other, his brother Xolotl, with the image of the 
sun on his back. Here, however, the roof, instead of being painted 
with the yellow color of straw, as in c, figure 74, has the clear sky 
painted upon it, stripes of many colors in which are drawn stone 
knives, eyes, and the eye surrounded by radiating eyes of fragment 1 
of our plate, while (6, figure 75) the border is supported from below 
by female figures with death's-heads and jaguar claws, which are in 
all probability the Tzitzimime Ilhuicatzitzquique or Petlacotzit- 
zquique, " the winged forms of the air who support the sky " (angeles 
de aire sostenedores del cielo) or " holders of the reed mat " (tene- 
dores del tapete de cana), mentioned by Tezozomoc.^ In these pic- 
tures the palace of the sun is placed opposite another house, out of 
which tongues of flame curl high in the air and in which dwell dark 
forms of night. The roof is pointed like the cave temple, which, in 



" The moon is represented here, as above in figure 65, by the picture of a rabbit in a 
vessel of water, the walls of which are formed of bones ; that is, the bones of the dead. The 
ancient Mexicans recognized the form of a rabbit in our " man in the moon ", as did the 
ancient Hindoos. The story runs that originally the moon shone with a light equal 
to that of the sun ; that on this account the gods threw a rabbit into its face and thus 
diminished its brilliancy to its present glow. 

" Cronica Mexicana, chap, 38. 



seler] 



EXPLANATION OF WALL PAINTINGS 



309 



the Borgian codex (figure G6) is represented opposite Tepej^ollotl. It 
is probably intended to represent the house of the earth or stone. 

In the Vienna codex, page 38, in exactly the same way, a mountain 




^^mm^ss 





l c 

Fig. 73. Descent of Qnetzalcoatl and house symbols, from 
the Vienna codex. 

(painted green, as usual), with the radiating eye on its surface, is 
placed opposite another mountain, painted brown and black, the 
color of stone, out of which rise tongues of fire (6, figure 74). In 



310 



BUEEAU OF AMEEICAN ETHNOLOGY 



[BULL. 28 



the Vienna codex is found also a representation where the radiating 
eye is enthroned in a house of its own (figure 76). This palace 
of the radiating eye is represented on a mountain, on whose surface 




a h <■ 

Pig. 74. Venus symbol and figures of mountains and house, from Maya and Mexican codices. 

is indicated a blossoming tree, and opposite is seen, clothed in eagle 
array, the deity " 9 rolling ball ". We have already seen this 
same deity in the remarkable representation in figure 73, where, 




^Tn^y-^fPSnf "jirrp^^r^ ?r7? 





a h 

Fig. 75. Temple and sun symbol, from the Borgian codex. 

clothed in eagle array, he and a god with an alligator mask, together 
with the descending Quetzalcoatl, are bringing down from the 
heavens the houses of the day and the night. Night is here repre- 
fcented (see &, figure 73) by a head with closed eyes. This representa- 



selrk] 



EXPLANATION OF WALL PAINTINGS 



311 



tion is one which can unquestionably be compared with the represen- 
tations of day and night among the so-called celestial shields of the 
Maya manuscripts, and it proves that 1 was entirely in the right when 
I pronounced this sign of the night in the Maya manuscripts, which is 
at the same time the hieroglyph for the numeral 20, to be a head with 
empty, bleeding eye sockets." The entire picture in figure 73 appears 
to be a remarkable parallel to a, figure 74, from the Dresden manu- 
script, which was interpreted by Forstemann as the descent of Venus. 




Fig. 76. Mexican deity, from the Vienna codex. 

I even feel inclined to recognize the original form of the Maya sign, 
which Forstemann regards as the hieroglyph of the planet Venus, in 
the object set with five eyes which is carried on the staff of the 
descending Quetzalcoatl. If that is the case there is so much the 
less reason for accepting the theory that the planet Venus was 
intended to be represented by the eye surrounded by radiating eyes in 
fragment 1. A summing up of the points demonstrated above proves 
beyond a doubt, I think, that the eye surrounded by radiating eyes is 
not a " star eye ", as I myself formerly designated it, but an eye of 
light, a " sun eye ", kin-ich, as the Mayas called it. Therefore, we 
may consider this eye of light of fragment 1 without hesitation as 
homologous to the faces surrounded by radiating eyes in the other 
fragments of plate xxxvii. For the notions " eye " and " face " are 

"See Zeitschrift fiir Etiinologie, v. 19 (1887), pp. (237)-(246). - 



312 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



[bull. 28 



merged one in the other in the languages of Mexico and Central 
America.'^ 

There is, besides, a representation in which a deity of this " eye of 
light " or " eye of rays '' is presented to 
us directly. It is on that one of the fa- 
mous relief slabs of Santa Lucia Cozu- 
malhuapa which is now in the Royal 
Museum of Ethnology at Berlin, and I 
reproduce it here in figure 77 (after C. 
Habel, but with some corrections). 
Here is seen the deity hovering above, 
and before him, below, the dancer 
dressed in the attributes of the deity. 
The head of the deity is set, as it were, 
like an eye under a large eyebrow which 
is curled up at the ends, and on which 
rest three zigzag rays. The dancer wears 
in his hair ornament the eye set in an 
eyebroAV Avith three upright points, and a 
similar eye is above him on the end of a 
separate staff. The otlier attributes, such 
as the jaguar's skin which hangs down 
from the back of the dancer, the point of 
the spear, which is seen behind, and the 
jaguar's head, which he wears as a hand 
mask and as a decoration on his belt, show 
that we have before us the deity of a burn- 
ing star, of the sun itself. 

No part of the representations which 
were below the border of clear sky is 
preserved on the east side of Palace IV 
(fragment 1, plate xxxvii). On the 
north side can be seen the head of Xipe '' 
near the western end (fragment 2, plate 
xxxvii). The god is recognized by the 
narrow eye, the forked nose ornament, and 

the broad red stripe, of the width of the eye, that passes down the 
whole length of the face, which seems to connect this deity, much wor- 
shiped in the Atlantic Sierra Madre and the coast lands Iving before 




Fig. 77. Sculptured slab, Santa 
Lucia Cozumalliuapa, Guate- 
mala. 



" Compare Mexican : ixtli, " la haz o la cara (the front or the face)" ; ix-telolotll, " ojo 
(eye)"; Zapotec : lao, loo, piahui-lao-ni, "haz por el rostro o cara del hombre (front to 
the beak or face of a man)" ; lao, piz^a-lao, " ojo con que vemos, 6 ojos (eye with which 
we see, or eyes)"; Maya: ich, " oara, ojos, vista, seml)lante. haz. auverso (face, eyes, 
aspect, appearance, front, obverse)". 

^ See, concerning this god, Tonalamatl der Aubinschen Sammlung, work cited, pp. 
G.'57-675, and Veroffentlichungen aus dem Koniglichen Museum fiir Volkerkunde, v. 1, 
pt. 4, pp. 145, 140 (illustration, fig. 13, p. 151). 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



BULLETIN 28 PLATE XXXVII 








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WALL PAINTINGS AT MITLA 






OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 





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WALL 



BULLETIN 28 







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AT MITLA 



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SELER] EXPLANATTON OP WALL PAINTINGS 313 

I't^ with a well-known deity of the Maya manuscripts, a deity of war, 
fire, and death, who appears in the retinue of the death god. Xipe in 
our fragment does not appear directly as the " stone-knife god " (Tz 
tapal totec, that is, Itz-tlapalli, or Tlapal-itztli, Totec), as, for exam- 
ple, in the Codex Telleriano-Remensis ; but he wears a crown of stone 
Imives, from which hangs a feather plume. Beside him, on the right, 
are visible the heads and bodies of two serpents, having a row of 
points along their backs. 

In fragment 3 there can be recognized two persons sitting with their 
arms crossed over their breasts, evidently two penitents, for be- 
tween them project two sharpened thigh bones, implements of self- 
castigation, which served to pierce the tongue, ears, or limbs in order 
to draw blood for sacrifice to the deity. 

The remnants still preserved in fragment 4 will no longer permit of 
interpretation. In fragment 5, however, we still have on each side 
of the sun glyph a continuous representation. On the right and left, 
from the sun glyph, which is flanked by steplike structures, a cord is 
seen to proceed, which is set with eyes (stars) and the eyes of light 
or rays discussed in detail above. Figures falling from the sky 
border, wearing peculiar wigs, which rise to a crest and are curled 
like waves, grasp at these cords, to which cling, from below recum- 
bent female forms with jaguar claws. These latter may perhaps be 
considered as homologous with the " ilhuica-tzitzquique " of &, 
figure 75. The incident seems intelligible. The sun is being drawn 
out of its cave. A legend descriptive of such an incident has, how- 
ever, not yet been discovered. 

It is difficult to interpret other remains of figures which can still be 
distinguished in fragment 5. On the left side of the fragment the 
head of a bird seems partially visible. Farther toward the middle, 
just on the left of the sun glyph, is the head of a jaguar. It seems 
as if this jaguar were intended to bear on its back the entire structure 
containing the image of the sun, for on the right of the sun glyph and 
equally distant from it there seems to hang down the tail of the 
jaguar. A scorpion, with one claw and upward-curling tail, is plainly 
visible at the right end of the fragment. 

Fragments 6 to 11 on plate xxxvii, belonging to the east side of the 
court adjoining Palace I, are more carefully drawn and more deli- 
cately executed than the paintings of Palace IV. The bird forms 
with clearly marked crests are very interesting objects here. These 
appear on the left (northern) end of the picture (fragment 6) as com- 
plete birds; then half turned into men (fragment 10) ; finally, on the 
right (southern) end (fragment 11), the full human face looks out of 
the bird face, which is reduced to a helmet mask. These bird forms 
and bird men are evidently identical with the idol of Teotitlan del 
valle, whose form I was able to show in the reliefs reproduced above 



314 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

in figures 69 and 70. The fact that these figures occur in the rep- 
resentations of the east side of this court, in the house of the sun, is a 
proof of the correctness of my conjecture that this idol of Teotitlan 
is the sun bird, which conjecture I have already mentioned above and 
which was directly suggested by the name Teotitlan itself. 

Besides the sun bird two figures of the wind god, Quetzalcoatl, 
strike us as significant on the east side of the court of Palace I, frag- 
ments 7 and 9 of plate xxxvii. They are recognizable from the ocelo- 
copilli, the round, conical cap of jaguar skin, and from the wingiike 
feather ornament on the nape of the neck, concerning which I shall 
speak farther on. In regard to the other remains of figures, various 
heads of serpents are still recognizable; at the right end of frag- 
ment 7 is a deity in a watery field, from the surface of which rise two 
divergent branches, bordered by what seem to be curling wreaths of 
smoke ending in bunches of flowers or feathers; and in fragment 8 
is evidently another deity, a counterpart to the first one. 

The whole of plate xxxviii and fragments 1 to 5 of plate xxxix 
are taken from the north, the principal, side of the side court of 
Palace I. The border here, as on the south side, is formed of simple 
disks. The underlying idea of this design is doubtless that of the 
stone disks (representing turquoise, emerald, or other precious 
stones) , which w-e find expressed in the headbands, especially in that 
of the sun god, in the picture writings and stone figures. 

The representations on this north side of the court are uncommonly 
rich and manifold, and it is only to be regretted that so large a por- 
tion of the paintings are already destroyed, and also that we do not 
know the particular form of the legends which are expressed in these 
paintings. 

Undoubtedly the god Quetzalcoatl is the central figure of these 
legends. His picture can be recognized in the painted fragments on 
this side of the court no fewer than nine times (in fragments 3, 4a, 4b, 
and 5 of plate xxxvii and in fragments 1, 3, and 4 of plate xxxix). 
I have spoken at length concerning the nature of this god and his 
attributes in my article on the Tonalamatl of the Aubin collection," 
and in my translation of the chapter on the costumes of the gods of 
the Aztec Sahagun text." 

The god is represented in the painted fragments of Mitla, in every 
instance, with the ocelo-copilli on his head, the round conical cap 
of jaguar skin, in which are fixed the implements of castigation — on 
one side, the sharpened thigh bone, from whose condyle blood flows 
or a flower is pendent, and on the other side, the sharp, prickly point 

« Compte rendu VII. Session Congrfes International des Americanistes, Berlin, 1888, 

pp. 545—559. 

b Veroffientlictiungen .-lus dem Koniglichen Museum fiir Vollierkunde, v. 1, pt. 4, pp. 

126-129. 



seler] 



EXPLANATION OF WALL PAINTINGS 



315 



of an agave leaf. The round ends of the head knots, which are char- 
acteristic of Quetzalcoatl, for everything about the wind god is 
round or twisted in spirals, are to be found here and there. The 
" thorny, curved " ear decoration tzicoliuhqui nacochtli, plainly 
meant to look as if cut out of a snail shell, seen in the pictures of this 
god in the Borgian codex, Codex Vaticanus B, etc., is entirely lack- 
ing in our paintings, being replaced by a simple ear disk. The breast 
ornament of Quetzalcoatl, no less characteristic, and is evidently 
cut out of a Avhelk shell, which is called in the Aztec Sahagun text 
ecailacatz-cozcatl, " the spirally twisted wind ornament ", is also 
lacking, but probably only because from the neck down the figures 
are altogether destroyed. On the other hand, in fragment 4b, plate 
XXXVII, it is outlined on the shield of the god. The fanlike or wing- 






c ^ (J 

Fig. 78. Symbols and figures of Quetzalcoatl, from Mexican codices. 

like feather ornament, standing out stiffly from the nape of the 
neck, which in the Aztec Sahagun text is once called cuezaluitoncatl, 
" fanlike ornament of red guacamayo feathers ", and another time 
quetzal-coxol-tlamamalli, '' dorsal ornament of quetzal and partridge 
feathers ", is in our paintings always drawn like the pictures in the 
Borgian codex. Codex Vaticanus B, the Vienna codex, and the Mixtec 
Colombino codex (Dorenberg codex) ; that is, it consists of elongated, 
radiating feathers (in the picture writings painted entirely red or 
red with blue points), which are probably intended to represent the 
tail feathers of the red guacamayo (" macaw "), and objects between 
these which are either actual representations of ej^es (see a, figure 78, 
from the Mixtec Colombino, or Dorenberg, codex) or surfaces orna- 
mented with eyes more or less clearly expressed (see 5, from the 



316 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

Vienna codex, page 30 ; e, from the Borgian codex, and d, from 
Codex Telleriano-Remensis, page 2). These intervenmg parts of the 
feather ornaments for the nape of the neck, especially in fragment 7 
of plate XXXVII, are very much like the oculiform designs which sur- 
round radially the faces of light in the sky border. 

Therefore this figure, as well as a, from the Colombino codex (Dor- 
enberg codex) , recalls very strikingly the eyes of light, or radial eyes, 
which I have already described in detail, and for this reason I believe 
that this feather ornament for the back of the neck, cuezal-uitoncatl 
is also intended to be a representation of the sun as well as that eye of 
light, or radial eye. Quetzalcoatl or a kindred form is portrayed 
in Codex Telleriano-Remensis II, page 25, rising from the jaws of 
the night monster, with the sun on his back, and in the picture from 
the Borgian codex reproduced in 6, figure 75, is represented his 
brother Xolotl, with the sun disk on his back. The red guacamayo 
feathers have indeed already pointed to this connection; for the red 
guacamayo is the xilouela copijcha, as the Zapotecs called it, the 
cuezal-tonameyotl of the Mexican Sahagun text, that is, " the picture 
or the reflection of the sun". The picture of the sun god was deco- 
rated with the feather ornament, cuezal-tonameyotl, on the day Naui 
Ollin, " 4 rolling ball ", which was dedicated to the sun.« It is 
an important circumstance for the perfect understanding of these 
forms and, not less, for the knowledge of the province which was the 
home of this god or in which the people dwelt among whom this 
form of the wind god was worshipped that in the description of 
costumes in the Aztec Sahagun text Macuil Xochitl and Ixtlilton, the 
light and the dark brother, are likewise provided with an uitoncatl, 
otherwise called cuezal-uitoncatl. We recognized this light and dark 
brother in the idol of the Zapotec Xa quie, or Teotitlan del valle, 
as well as in that of Teotitlan del camino, situated near the boundary 
between the Nahua tribes and the Mazateca. In the capital, Mexico, 
the city of Uitzilopochtli, Quetzalcoatl had no festival, scarcely 
a place of worship, nor in the other cities of the Valle de Mexico, 
with the single exception of Mizquic ; but he had a sanctuary in Cho- 
lula, and from that point along the entire road over which the Tol- 
tecs, the wandering Nahua tribes, are said to have passed we find 
more or less evident traces of his worship until we reach Cozcatlan, 
inhabited by Mexican-speaking Pipils, in the present republic of 
San Salvador.^ It was the Toltecs, or the Nahua race, " who were 
familiar with Mexican, although the}'^ did not speak it as perfectly as 
they use the language to-day ", whose lord and god was Quetzalcoatl. 
"• Since they were quick of wit and apt in trade thev succeeded in a 

" Sahagun, v. 4, chap. 2. 

'' Palacio. Uelacion de (iuatemahi. Coleccion de Documentos ineditos del Archivo 
General de las Indias, v. 6 (1886), p. 26 and following. 



SELER] EXPLANATION OF WALL PAINTINGS 3l7 

phort time in acquiring riches, and men said their god Quetzalcoatl 
gave them these, and so it was said among them of one who became 
rich rapidly that he was a son of Quetzalcoatl ".'' The same author- 
ity ^ makes a similar statement concerning the Olmecs, Uixtotins, and 
Mixtecs — (under which name, as I stated above, are included different 
tribes of the tierra caliente, and probably also the Zapotecs), to wit, 
that likewise among these " there were many who spoke the Mexican 
language " (iniquein miequintin in navatlatoa). Doubtless the form 
of this god passed to the Zapotecs from the conquering and trad- 
ing Nahua tribes, and perhaps the key to this frieze of Mitla, so 
abounding in figures, might have been found among the Nahua tribes, 
neighbors of the Zapotecs, in Teotitlan or in Teouacan (Tehuacan), 
full of idols and priests and productive of picture writings. 

The western part of the frieze on the north side in Palace I is 
pretty thoroughly destroyed. In consequence, fragment 1 on plate 
XXXVIII shows in general only disconnected remains. Two inter- 
twined serpents, characterized by a row of jDoints on the back, are 
quite distinct and recall those of fragment 2 on plate xxxvii. Fur- 
thermore there is a bird with a pointed beak, which appears again 
below on fragment 4b, plate xxxviii. The numerals 1 and 2 are 
coordinated in the Borgian codex, page 44, with two bird forms 
which apparently correspond to this one of the pointed beak. Finally, 
there is preserved at the right end of fragment 1 a deity who wears 
a bar in the nose that diminishes in steps, like those by which the 
deities of the earth, Chantico and Xochiquetzal, are characterized in 
the Borgian codex. The elaborate painting of the face recalls also 
the Xochiquetzal of the Borgian codex, page 53. 

In fragment 3 of plate xxxviii are to be first noticed two pictures 
of the sun god. They can be recognized by the headband, which is 
set with disks representing precious stones and has a bird's head in 
front, and by two lines which border the outer corners of the eyes. 
The sun god in the Borgian codex, page 49, is represented opposite 
the moon god, as ruler of the sixth week, " 1 death ", in exactly the 
same way (see below, figure 82). The forward one of the two figures 
in fragment 3 appears to hold a cup in his hand, the other a disk or 
ball. Opposite the latter a god is portrayed who also wears the step- 
shaped, tapering nose bar of the earth goddess. To this god the day 
date seems to belong, which consists of the head of the rain god 
(quiauitl, " rain ") with a numeral which can no longer be identified. 
Behind the second figure of the sun god is given the year date "7 (?) 
flint ". After this follows a representation difficult to interpret, in 
which can be recognized a mountain, with a finely drawn head of a 
turkey, and with a house ( ? ) on its summit. 

Fragment 4a begins with a serpent, which has the head of Quetzal- 

" Saliagun, v. 10, chap. 29, sec. I. * Ibid., sec. 10, 



318 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

coatl and lies along the roof of a house. Then follows unmistakably 
the figure of Xolotl," the twin brother of Quetzalcoatl, characterized 
by the physiognomy of an animal (dog?). He is adorned with 
Quetzalcoatl's conical cap of jaguar skin and his necklace of sr.ail 
shells. The torn ears of a dog appear here almost m the shape ot 

feather tufts. • i u i • 

After Xolotl the drawing of a mountain, or town, with the hiero- 
o-lyph " emerald " on its surface, and on its top a house, follows, and 
out of the roof of the house grows a blossoming tree. Then follow 
two human forms facing downward, which bear two mountains 
(towns) on their backs by means of the mecapal, a carrying strap 
passing over the forehead. The first is characterized by waving lines 
on its surface, in the middle of which are two mirrors. On its sum- 
mit it bears the house with the blossoming trees. The other mountain 
has on its surface the hieroglyph " mirror " repeated three times, 
one above the other, and on its summit it has the head of a turkey. 

In fragment 5 on plate xxxviii, besides a couple of serpents' heads, 
there ar^ visible an eagle and a jaguar, at least the splendidly exe- 
cuted claws of one. . ■ . u 

In fragment 1, plate xxxix, the picture of the death god is to be 
seen, whose face is painted like that of Tezcatlipoca, and who wears 
the stone knife as an ear peg and throws a lance with one hand. 

In fragment 4, plate xxxix, the year '• 1 reed ", the name of the 
morning star, is given beside the picture of Quetzalcoatl. It seems 
therefore that here on the right (eastern) end of the frieze of the 
north side the transformation of Quetzalcoatl into the morning 

star was indicated. , -^ u i 

The -remains of the frieze on the west side of the court ot i^aiace 
I are reproduced in fragments 6 to 9 on plate xxxix. I was obliged 
to free the last of these from the masonry that had been built over 
them before I could copy them. The night, or the starry sky, is here 
represented as a surrounding border by means of eyes in a dotted 
(that is, dark) field. ^ . iv 

On this side of the court are represented, not different deities, 
but different disguises of the same deity. The application of dark 
paint to the face around the eyes, like a domino, is the one essential 
characteristic in which this god coincides with the deity of the morn- 
ing star, who, according to the interpreter's rendering, ' is lord ot the 
dawn but also lord of the twilight when night is about to faff 
(quiere dezir sehor de mahana quando amanece, y lo mismo es senor 
de aouella claridad quando quiere anochecer). (See figures 62 and 
63 ) ' The same characteristic is, however, also an attribute of Cam- 
axtli, who was the god of Tlaxcallan and was called^-odjofttiechase 

"T^^^^^^^^^n-ms this god, Das l^^^matl der Aubinsclien Sammlung, p. 682 and 
following. 



BUREALi OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 




BULLETIN 28 PLATE XXXVIII 









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WALL PAINTINGS AT MITLA 



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BULLETIN 28 PL 




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EXPLANATION OF WALL PAINTINGS 



319 



seler] 

(a, figure 79, from Duran, volume 2, plate 6, a), and of Paynal and 
At'laua as they are represented in the Aztec Sahagun manuscript of 
the Biblioteca del Palacio at Madrid (6 and c, figure 79) . It was also 
characteristic of Mixcoatl, who, like Camaxtli, was god of the chase, 
and in honor of whom the Mexicans celebrated the feast of Quecholli. 
A picture in the Sahagun manuscript of the Biblioteca del Palacio 
represents this feast, with the god and hunters wearing the costume 
of the god, who perform a dance or march in procession before him 
(a, figiire 80). Finally, this characteristic is exhibited in exactly the 
same'^way in the Borgian codex, by the god who is being sacrificed on 
the ball ground on which the red and the black Tezcatlipoca are at 
play (^.^figure 80). It is also one of the attributes of the Miinix- 
coua, the sorcerers, called Xiuhnel and Mimitzin, who, with their 
sister Quilaztli, were found by the migratory Aztecs in the north 



dilavcx 





Fig. 79. Mexican deities, after Duran and Sahagun. 



(" the land of the Mimixcoua ", Mimixcoua in tlalpan) below the 
mesquites and hanging on the melon thistle cacti, and who became 
their first tribute (yehuantin yacachto tequitizque) , that is, they 
Avere the first whom they offered as sacrifices to their god {a, figure 
81).« The characteristic is doubtless also indicated on the faces of 
the captives adorned for the sacrificio gladiatorio, by whom the con- 
quest and subjugation of a city or country is regularly typified in 
the Codex Telleriano-Eemensis (see above, figures 55 and 56). 

It is obvious that this black painting about the eye is connected in 

"Boturini codex, p. 9. The foremost prostrate figure, that is, the one lying farthest 
on the right, whom the Aztec designated by the hieroglyph Aztlan is sacrificing, is 
(quilaztli, that is, the earth goddess, recognizable by the black color about the mouth. 
Next follow her brothers, the Mimixcoua, the first designated hieroglyphically by the pic- 
ture of a fish, mimitzin, the other by the hieroglyph "turquoise (mosaic) " and small 
individual pieces of turquoise, xiuhnel. The three are dressed as Chichimecs in skins. 



320 



BUEEAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



[BULL. 28 



most of ihese cases with the white or red and white striped paint- 
ing of the body. It is fairly stereotyped as to form and extension ; 
but a variation exists, inasmuch as in one of the manuscripts (Borgian 
codex) there is only a plain patch of black paint, while in the others 
(Codex Telleriano-Remensis, Tonalamatl of the Aubin collection, 
Sahagun manuscript) this black surface has a border of little circles. 
In the Aztec Sahagun manuscript, this painting of the face is desig- 




F!G. 80. Procession and sacrifice, from the Saliagun manuscript" and the Borgian codes. 

nated as the " face-cage marking " and the " face-star marking which 
is called darkness (tlayoualli) ". The expression "cage marking'' 
refers, it would seem, to the stripes on the face. It is therefore evi- 
dent that the technical designation " star marking, darkness " refers 
to the design resembling a black domino. This nomenclature not 
only explains the nature of the thing itself, but is also a proof that all 
the intricate and manifold symbols which we find as attributes of the 
personages of the Mexican Olympus were no thoughtless repetitions 



sklbr] 



EXPLANATION OF WALL PAINTINGS 



321 



of adopted forms, but signs purposely employed to enable the be- 
holder to recognize the nature of the personage represented without 
the possibility of error. In the case before us there has simply been 
drawn on the face of the deity the hieroglyph " night ", as we have 
learned to know it in figure 65 and «, figure 72; and it follows from 
this signification and the designation given that the more complete 
and correct symbol was that which shoAvs us the black surface bor- 
dered b}^ small circles. These small circles are doubtless the eyes by 
which the Mexicans indicated the stars in the expanse of the dark 
nocturnal sky. 

The deities on whose faces this hieroglyph was written have in- 
deed a large number of traits in common, in spite of the fact that 
their entities are apparently very divergent. The interpreter has 
alreadj^ laid stress upon the statement that the morning star is also 
the lord of the evening twilight, and thus belongs to the region of 




a h 

Fig. 81. Sacrifices and tribute-bearer, from. Mexican codices. 

the. west. This is, moreover, an astronomic fact. The Indians of the 
isthmus, according to Brasseur de Bourbourg,« up to this day call the 
morning star the "transient sun" (le soleil passant). The gods 
who were at home in the north, the region of darkness, were, from the 
Indian point of view, moreover, merged in these deities of the twi- 
light, that is, the time when the sun was not yet or no longer shining ; 
and, since in the north lived the roaming hunter tribes, the Chichi- 
mecs, the god of the north was naturally the god of the chase. The 
merging of the deity of the morning star in the hunting god of the 
north is actually carried out in the Tlauizcalpan Tecutli of the Ton- 
alam.atl of the Aubin collection, since the netted pouch (chitatli), the 
javelin, and the attendant animal of the god Camaxtli are placed in 
front of him (see &, figure Y3). The north is, however, also the king-- 
dom of the dead. Therefore, those who are destined for sacrifice, for 



» Voyage sur Flsthme de Tehuantepec, 
7238— No. 28—05 21 



Paris, 1861, p. 81, 



322 BUREAU OF AMERICAISr ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

death, are naturally clothed in the livery of this god. Finally, the 
morning star, according to the interpreter, was also the first light 
Avhich illuminated the world, before the sun was created. Hence this 
god is the primal deity, the creator of the world and of men, the Iztac 
Mixcoatl, who, as Motolinia rej^orts, lived in the north, in Chicom- 
oztoc, and from whom and his wife, Ilancueye, descended the differ- 
ent nations of the Avorld, that is, of Mexico. 

The deities of the evening twilight, who are represented on the west 
side of the court of Palace I (fragments G to 9 of plate xxxix), have, 
almost all of them, a beard of the kind that is given to Quetzalcoatl, 
to the creative god Tonacatecutli, and occasionallj^ also to the moon 
god, and several of the figures Avear a tusklike curved peg in the under 
lip. The Mexicans called this tez-gaca-necuilli, and in the historical 
picture writings the warriors of Uexotzinco and Tlaxcallan are gen- 
erally drawn with it (see ?>, figure 81). The style of dressing the 
hair and the adornment vary somewhat in other particulars, but one 
has the impression that these were mere calligraphic variants or 
different forms of the same deity. Each held a spear throAver in one 
hand and spears in the other. The gods are probably thus character- 
ized as gods of war and of the chase. 

As for the rest of the figures, we have, first, in fragment 6. on the 
left side, a deer facing downwards (recognizable by the hoofs) and 
clothed in a petticoat bordered with stone knives. Then comes an 
eagle, then a second form facing downwards Avhich has the feet and 
claws of the jaguar; in fragment 7, a deer with two heads; in frag- 
ment 8, a figure difficult of interpretation, in which the petticoat bor- 
dered with stone knives occurs again; finally, in fragment 10, are 
intertwined blossoming branches set with thorns or points. 

The south side of the court of Palace I, from which I have been 
able to copy fragment 10 of plate xxxix, is the most uniform. The 
border, like that on the north side, consists of simple disks. The per- 
sonages represented below the border are all different forms or calli- 
graphic variants of the sun god.. The characteristic features here are 
again the headband set Avith disks representing precious stones and 
bearing on the front a conventionalized bird's head and the lines 
around the outer corners of the eyes. The headband in all the fig- 
ures Avithout exception is almost exactly the same. The lines around 
the outer corners of the eyes of the third figure in fragment 10 are the 
only ones drawn in the characteristic manner to be seen in the picture 
of the sun god of the Borgian codex (figure 82) and also in fragment 
8 of plate xxxviii. The fourth personage has a broad rectangular 
latticeAvork stripe. The others seem to have only a line of demar- 
cation betAveen the parts surrounding the eyes and the upper por- 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOOY 







m 




il^Iilid^If 







a.LL PAINTINGS AT MITLA 



INVEETED. 




^^TEaa EEEU ^IflJ^XiaEEE 



WALL PAINTINGS AT MITLA 



INVERTED. 



seler] 



EXPLANATION OF WALL PAINTINGS 



323 



tion of the forehead. In the last figure on the right, which differs 
from the other forms of this side of the court in having a round eye 

of death, the face is divided length- 
wise by a broad stripe, which re- 
calls the drawing of Xipe, into a 
light front half and a dark rear 
half. The latter is covered with 
concentric circles very much resem- 
bling the divisions in the face paint- 
ing which are generally seen in the 
pictures of Quetzalcoatl. There 
is in this case also evident varia- 
tion of form or of conception of the 
same deity. The way in which, on 
one single strip of wall painting, 
the same deity is represented with 
slight alterations, sometimes in dif- 
ferent forms, and sometimes only in 
calligraphic variants, closely follow- 
i]ig one upon the other, recalls the calligraphic variants, or hiero- 
glj^phic elements repeated w^ith slight alterations, which one so often 
]neets with in the ornamentation and hieroglyphic writings of the 
Mava races. 




Fig. 82. 



The sun god, from the Borgian 
codex. 



CONCLUSION 

Defective and incomplete as they now are, these paintings of Mitla, 
taken as a whole, present an important document. They are, up to 
the present day, the only known picture writings of mythologic con- 
tent, whose origin has been indisputably established, that date from 
ancient heathen times. Since these paintings show in the style of 
the figures and the subjects of the representations an unmistakable 
relationship to the Borgian codex, it follows that this large, beau- 
tifully and brilliantly executed, manuscript can not have origi- 
nated far from the place where the designers of the frescoes of 
Mitla received their inspiration, their knowledge, and their skill 
in art. This place can not well have been the Zapotec country 
itself, for, while the deity, or the deities, who occupy the most 
prominent place in these picture writings, doubtless played an impor- 
tant part in the priest lore and the philosophy of the Zapotecs, 
it seems that, with the exception of the idol of Teotitlan, they were 
by no means true national forms. On the other hand, these picture 
writings contain a large number of elements which point to ideas and 
customs recorded precisely of the Zapotecs, but which are com- 
pletely, or almost completely, lacking in the centers of political power 
belonging to the Nahua tribes of later times, as well as among the 
Mayas. It seems, therefore, that we ought not to seek the place 
which produced and spread this culture very far from the Zapotec 
country I believe that these picture writings are tangible evidences 
pointing to the idea we ought to form of the Toltecs, whose name has 
been so often mentioned and so much abused, for they were neither 
mere mythical forms dwelling in a fantastic region beyond the clouds 
nor the inhabitants of a single small city, least of all an exotic civil- 
ized race that spread over the whole American continent, coming 
from the primal Asiatic home of man, lying somewhere near the 
biblical paradise. As Father Sahagun's authority emphatically de^ 
Clares, the Toltecs, or their descendants, spoke Nahuatl; yet they 
were not the Nahua tribes of the highlands, those who later obtained 
predominant political power, but the Nahua tribes who lived m the 
coast region as neighbors of the Mixtec-Zapotec and the Maya tribes, 
and who, in and by means of this contact, in active peaceful inter- 
course with the other tribes, developed the calendar and the philoso- 
phy connected with and emanating from it, which embraced their 
own deities and those of other tribes, a calendar and philosophy 
which afterward became, to a certain extent, the common property 
of all the civilized peoples of ancient Mexico. 
334 



SIGNIFICANCE OF THE MAYA CALENDAR 
IN HISTORIC CHRONOLOGY 



EDUARD SELER 



336 



SIGNIFICANCE OF THE MAYA CALENDAR IN 
HISTORIC CHRONOLOGY" 



By Eduard Seler 



In the traditions of the Mexican and Central American races there 
is mention of a civilized nation, said to have been in the country 
before all others, which was the originator of all arts and sciences. 
This was the Toltec nation. Among other things, the invention of 
the calendar is ascribed to this nation, and we are told that they 
carried their books with them on their migrations and that they were 
led by their wise men and soothsayers, the Amoxhuaque, " who under- 
stood the books ", that is, the picture writings. This is to some extent 
a confirmation of the statement that they were the inventors of all 
arts and sciences. For the calendar is indeed the alpha and omega of 
the Central American sacerdotal wisdom, and the great mass of 
Mexican and Maya manuscripts is nothing more than an elaboration 
of this calendric system in respect of its numerical theory, its chro- 
nology, and its system of divination..^ 

The nature of this calendar, consisting in the fact that it originated 
from the fundamental number 20 in combination with the number 13, 
is a well-known matter. A simple calculation shows us that the 
peculiar period of 52 years in use among the Mexican races proceeds 
directly from the application of this fundamental system to a solar 
year of 365 days. There is still a diversity of opinion as to how fai- 
the Mexicans themselves were able to harmonize this system with 
actual time, the solar year and the revolution, of the various heavenly 
bodies. ~ 

Among the Maya races the system seems to have been brought to 
perfection on the numeric-theoretic side in particular. This is shown 
by the long rows of figiu"es rising to high amounts which Forstemann 
first brought to notice and deciphered. One thing seems to follow 
distinctly from these series of figures, namely, that not only the 
movement of the sun but also the movements of the large planets 
were noted, and that these people were capable of connecting the 

» Globus, V. 68, n. 3. 

'•See Zeitschrift fiir Ethnologie (1891), v. 23, p. 91. 

327 



328 BUREAU OF AMERICAlsT ETHNOLOGY [bdll. 28 

period of revolution of these bodies with the solar year of 365 
days and with the period of 20X13 days, the true basis of the 
system. The apparent period of revolution of Venus may be set 
down with tolerable accuracy as 584 days. Five such revolutions 
give us the figures 2,920, or 8 solar years of 365 days. This precise 
number is plainly the basis of the computations on certain pages 
of the Dresden manuscript. But 65 such periods give us the number 
37,960, that is, double the period of 52 years, which, as I said, is the 
direct result of the application of the designation of days in accord- 
ance with the system of the 20 characters and the 13 digits to the 
solar year of 365 days. In like manner, as Forstemann has also 
proved, the apparent revolution of Mercury around the sun, which 
is completed in 115 days, seems to be brought into connection with the 
period of 20X13 days; for 104 of these revolutions produce the 
number 11,960, which is as well forty-six times the period of 20X13 
days. And this number clearly forms the basis of other pages in the 
Dresden manuscript.'* 

Now, while this elaboration of the system is shown with tolerable 
clearness by the extensive computations continued throughout entire 
series of pages, we are still in doubt in regard to the cardinal ques- 
tion, whether the Mayas and Mexicans were capable of harmoniz- 
ing this system, in which none but entire days are reckoned, with the 
actual duration of the year, which includes a fraction of a day; in 
other words, whether they were acquainted with intercalation, and 
how they managed it. It is evident that the solar year of 365 days 
necessarily caused a displacement of the beginning of the year, which- 
must needs become very apparent within a comparatively short space 
of time. That this circumstance was not taken into account b}^ the 
Mexicans, at least, within short periods of time, is proved by the 
displacement of the beginning of the year, which, as I have shown, 
actually occurred in the space from the conquest of the city of Mexico 
to the time when Father Sahagun wrote his history.^ The Mayas 
were more systematic than' the Mexicans in regard to chronologic 
dates, since they had in the first place longer periods, somewhat over 
256 years, within which they could mark off 13 divisions with more 
precision. And furthermore, it seems to follow from both manu- 
scripts and stone monuments that the Mayas possessed a normal date 
to which all present, past, and future events were referred, the days, 
being simply reckoned from or up to this. This normal date, which 
Forstemann has also taught us to recognize, is 4 Ahau 8 Cumku, 
that is, the day designated by the figure 4 and the character Ahau, 
Avhich Avas the eighth day of the month Cumku. Wherever in the 
manuscripts the dates of day and month are accurately indicated, the 

« Forstemann, Die Zeilperioden der Mayas, Globus, v. (V^, n. 2. 

"Die Bilderhnndsc'hriflen Alex, von IT>imboldt, in der Konis^e Bililiolliek zu Berlin. 



SELER] MAYA CALENDAR IN HISTORIC CHRONOLOGY 329 

figures attached invariably refer to this normal date as the starting 
or ending point. The stelte of Copan and Quirigua and the altar 
slabs of Palenque all have at the top a large glyph followed by a date, 
an ahau, the initial date or the name of a period of 20X360 days. 
And these large numerals invariably appear to give the difference 
between this date and the above-mentioned normal date. When such 
a distinct fixing of time occurs and when such weight is attached to 
it that the monuments erected at various periods, without exception, 
give this determination of the time first, we might well expect that 
these people were also capable of so ordering the calendar as to reduce 
the displacements resulting from the insufficient estimate of the 
length of the- year ; but hitherto, as I said, we have not succeeded in 
clearing this matter up.. 

The so-called books of Chilam Balam are to be regarded as off- 
shoots of the Maya manuscripts, most of them originating toward 
the end of the sixteenth and in the first half of the seventeenth 
centuries. They recite in the characters invented and taught 
by the monks all the old traditions still lingering in the memory of 
individuals. It is to be regretted that these valuable sources, which 
exist in various transcripts in Yucatan, were not published earlier. 
Copies of them were made by our indefatigable compatriot, Dr Her- 
mann Behrendt, whose death was a great loss to science, and these 
copies were bought after his death by Doctor Brinton. I furnished 
various proofs in the last session but one of the Americanist Congress 
at Huelva that these books treat in general of matters similar to those 
given in at least a portion of the hieroglyphic Maya manuscripts, and 
that a considerable part of the old traditions is still to be found in 
their pages. 

• These books also contain the small amount of historic information 
regarding antiquity that is preserved by tradition. They have been 
brought together and published by Brinton in the first volume of his 
Library of Aboriginal American Literature, under the title, " Maya 
Chronicles ". They are, in fact, brief chronicles, a recountal of the 
divisions of time, the periods called katun, which had elapsed since the 
immigration into the country and of the few memorable events which 
tradition has preserved. " This is the series of the katuns ", " this is 
the enumeration of the katuns ", " this is the account of the katims ", 
are the stereotyped forms with Avhich the text of these chronicles 
begins. 

The periods which are numbered, the katuns, are of considerable 
length. Their actual extent is still a matter of controversy. Wliile 
the older Spanish authors, as Bishop Landa and Cogolludo, without 
exception ascribe to them 20 years, and this length of time also forms 
the basis of the computations which occur in the text of the books of 
Chilam Balam, the length of the katun is said to be 24 years in the 



330 



BUREAU OF AMEEICAN ETHNOLOGY 



[bull. 28 



marginal notes to that text, which, however, were evidently the work 
of some later hand. And the same thing has been affirmed recently by 
the Yucatec archeologist, Pio Perez, with great positiveness. I pointed 
out vears ago " that from the way in which the katuns were named and 
reckoned, that is, designated by the character for the day Ahau and 
a numeral which seems to be decreased in each successive katun by the 
value of 2— as 13, 11, 9, 7, 5, 3, 1 ; 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2 Ahau— the conclu- 
sion is to be drawn that the length of the katun was neither 20 nor 24 
solar years, but 20X360 days, a period of time actually used by the 
Mayas in reckoning, as clearly follows from the numeric characters 
in the Dresden manuscript with which Forstemann first acquainted 
us. It is merely a lack of exactness on the part of the old writers 
when they speak of 20 years instead of 20X360 days. The more 
recent theory that the length of the katun was 24 years clearly arose 
from the fact that the first days of the period of 24 years received 
the same designation as those of the periods of 7,200 clays. 

On the basis of a passage in the book of Chilam Balam of Mani, 
which gives the beginning of the katun, 5 Ahau, as the 17th day of 
the month Zac in the year 13 Kan, or A. D. 1593, I have reckoned 
the first days of the katuns as follows: ^ 



Name of 
katun 

8 Ahau 

6 Ahati 

4 Ahau 
2 Ahau 

13 Ahau 
11 Ahau 

9 Ahau 

7 Ahau 

5 Ahau 



Name of 
year 

11 Ix 

5lx 

11 Muluc 

5 Muluc 

12 Muluc 

6 Miiluc 

12 Kan 
6 Kan 

13 Kan 



First day of 
katun 

7 Chen 

7 Zotz 
12 Kayab 
12Ceh 
12 Yaxkin 
12 Uo 
17 Moan 
17 Yax 
17 Zac 



Date in the Chris- 
tian era 

January 29, 1436 

October 15, 1455 

Jiily 3, 1475 

March 19, 1495 

December 5, 1514 

August 22, 1534 

May 9, 1554 

January 24, 1574 

October 16, 1593 



Anyone who has ever taken the trouble to collect the dates in old 
Mexican history from the various sources must speedily have dis- 
covered that the chronology is very much awry, that it is almost hope- 
less to look for an exact chronology. The date of the fall of Mexico 
is definitely fixed according to both the Indian and the Christian 
chronology, and this one fixed date makes it possible to harmonize, 
with approximate certainty at least, the two calendric systems:'' 
but in regard to all that precedes this date, even to events tolerably 
near the time of the Spanish conquest, the statements differ widely. 
The chronology of the books" of Chilam Balam is as bad or worse. In 
the first place", the list of traditional events is exceedingly meager; 
then, but few dates can be relied on with any degree of confidence. 
In rnost cases the arrangement of the entire statement shows that 



"Zeitschrift fiir Ethnologie (1891), v. i.>:i, p. 11-. 

"In an ossav read before the Berlin Anthropologic Society in .lime, IS.).). 

c See ErPiuterungen zu den Bilderliaudschriften Alexander von lUnnl.oldts. Berlin, 18J.5. 



SELBR] MAYA CALENDAR IN HISTORIC CHRONOLOGY 331 

the dates were not actual dates, but were chosen according to a fixed 
scheme. 

Three events are recorded with some degree of accuracy, to wit, 
the final establishment of the Spaniards and the foundation of 
Merida, the death of a certain Ahpula, and the first appearance of 
the Spanish in the peninsula. 

The final establishment of the Spanish was the result of the victory 
which tliey Avon on St. Barnabas's day, June 11 (old style), of the 
year 1541 over the powerful league of the hostile Yucatec chief- 
tains in the city of Ichcanzihoo, afterward Merida.'^ The victory 
was followed, January 6, 1542, by the foundation of the Spanish city 
of Merida, which from that time forward was the capital of the prov- 
ince." The statements of native chroniclers, and in accord with them 
also the first Spanish chronicle. Bishop Landa's, ascribe this event 
to the period known as 11 Ahau; and A\hen in one of these state- 
ments, the second list in the Chilam Balam of Chumayel, the year 1519 
is set down, in apparent contradiction to this, as falling in the period 
11 Ahau, this seems to be due simply to a confusion of two events, the 
appearance of the soldiers of Hernando Cortes's fleet upon the penin- 
sula in the year 1519 and the later final establishment of the Span- 
ish in 1541. A'\^iile the accounts as to the period generally agree 
throughout, statements as to the division of the period in which the 
event named befell differ very widely. If we are to believe Bishop 
Landa, the year 1541, the year in which the Spanish definitely estab- 
lished themselves in Merida, was the first one of the period 11 Ahau.^ 
A chronicler generally trustworthy, as it seems, Nakuk Pech, the 
cacique of the village of Chac-Xulub-Chen, the present Chic- 
xulub, who wrote about 1565, states that it was the fifth division of 
the period.'^- The second list of the Chilam Balam of Chumayel, 
mentioned above, ascribes the event to the seventh division of the 
period 11 Ahau.'^ Finally, the Chilam Balam of Mani asserts that 
the establishment of the Spanish at Merida occurred before the expi- 
ration of, that is to say during, the katun 11 Ahau.« Of these various 
statements, that of the Chilam Balam of Chumayel seems to agree 
tolerably well with my computation, for, according to this, the sev- 
enth division of 11 Ahau would have ended on July 18, 1541, and the 
decisive engagement at Merida, as I stated above, took place on June 
11 of that year. Nakuk Peek's statement differs by two years; he 
must have ascribed the beginning of the katun 11 Ahau to the year 
1536 of the Christi-an era. Bishop Landa's statement is not likely 

" CogoUudo, V. 3, chap. 7. 

" Relacione& de las cosas de Yucatan, edid. de la Rada y Delgado, p. 103. 

" Brinton, Maya Chronicles, p. 193. 

'' Same place, p. 168, 

^ Same place, p. 98. 



332 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [ehll. 28 

to be founded on any more exact information. Nakuk Pech gives 
the name of the year 1542, in which the Spanish founded the city 
of Merida, as 13 Kan. This accords with the other agreements 
occurring in the books of Chilam Balam— with one exception, of 
which I shall speak directly— and also with the above computation. 
The second one of the dates which are recorded with comparative 
accuracy is that of the death of a certain Ahpula, or Ahpulha, who is 
called Napot Xiu in the second list of the Chilam Balam of Chuma- 
yel The latter is the true name of the man, who was, therefore, on 
his father's side, of the tribe of Xiu, the reigning dynasty of Mam, 
and on his mother's side of the Pot tribe. The other word, appar- 
ently, merely signifies ' the quality, the trade, the occupation of the 
person in question. Ah-pul, " the thrower ", or ah-pul-ya, ah-pul- 
yaah " thrower of evil ", " thrower of diseases ", was the technical 
name for a certain class of magicians of whom it was believed that 
they busied themselves in casting sickness upon their fellow-men. 
The death of a dreaded conjurer was therefore announced. From the 
name we must suppose that it was an event which especially affected 
the territory of the principality of Mani. Ah Napot Xiu, by the way, 
also occurs as the name of a mythic or historic personage for whom 
• one of the 13 katuns is named. 

The death of this Ahpula is given in three of the lists— the Chilam 
Balam of Mani, that of Tzimin, and the first list of the Chilam 
Balam of Chumayel— in perfect agreement and with remarkable 
accuracy. According to these authorities Ahpula died six years 
before the expiration of katun 13 Ahau, in the year 4 Kan, on the 
18th of the month Zip, and on the day 9 Imix. The second list of the 
Chilam Balam of Chumayel, differing from these, sets down Ahpu- 
la's death in the first division of 11 Ahau. Besides, the Chilam 
Balam of Mani and that of Tzimin give the year as answering to 
the year 1536 of the Christian chronology; but in the first list of the 
Chilam Balam of Chumayel the figure 158 is given, which is open 
to various interpretations.* , --i 

Definite as these statements seem to be, we nevertheless meet with 
insoluble contradictions when we undertake a closer comparison of 
the dates handed clown to us. A serious discrepancy is encountered 
at the outset in the divergent assertion of the second hst ot the 
Chilam Balam of Chumavel. On the other hand, " six years before 
the close of 13 Ahau " can not have been the year 1536. It was 
either (as according to my reckoning) the year 1528 or (if we con- 
sider the statement of Xakuk Pech that the establishment of the 
Spaniards in Merida was the fifth division of 11 Ahau to be correct) 
the year 1530. And if, as Perez did,'' we read " in the sixth year 

" Brintou, Maya Chronicles, pp. 98, 142, 150. 
"Slci'lKMis, nicidents of Travel in Yucatan, v. 1, p. 4-1:'.. 



SELER] MAYA CALENDAK IN" HISTORIC CHRONOLOGY 333 

the course of the katuii 13 Ahaii ", instead of " six years before the 
close of 13 Ahau ", we then have the year 1520 or 1522. But setting 
aside these accordances with Christian chronology, whicli may all 
be merely marginal notes, added later by ignorant persons, we have 
a still more serious contradiction in the dates given according to 
the Indian chronology itself : 9 Imix was indeed the 18th day of the 
month Zip in a year whose first month began with a day 4 Kan; 
but such a year was only the year 1493, and after that the year 1545, 
according to the unanimous statements contained in the books of Chi- 
1am Balam and other sources of information in regard to the Chris- 
tian years that correspond to the Indian years. The year 1493 can not 
possibly have belonged to the katun 13 Ahau, unless we are to 
regard as false all the other accounts, which agree in stating that 
the Spanish permanently settled at Merida in 11 Ahau, that Chris- 
tianity was introduced in 9 Ahau, that Bishop Landa died in 7 Ahau, 
and that 5 Ahau began in the year 1593. 

The solution of this contradiction will become possible, if ever, 
onl}^ Avhen a critical recension of the text has been made by a compar- 
ison of the various copies of the books of Chilam Balam, and the 
original parts have been separated from later additions and marginal 
notes. 

The third event recorded witli comparative accuracy is the first ap- 
pearance of the Spanish on the Yucatan peninsula. Here a discrep- 
ancy of statement would seem comprehensible. For, in the first 
place, we may doubt what is meant by the first appearance of the 
Spaniards, whether it be the year when the Mayas for the first time 
beheld a Spaniard, or that of the appearance of the first armed troops 
on the coast of Yucatan, or the year when the Spaniards first pene- 
trated into the interior of the countrj^ and strove to conquer it. The 
statements in the native records all seem to refer to the first of these 
three events, which occurred in the year 1511, when the caravels of 
Valdivia, on the return voyage from the isthmus of Darien to His- 
paniola, foundered on the shoals near Jamaica, and the survivors of 
the crew were driven in a wretched boat upon the coast near the 
island of Cozumel, among them the deacon Geronimo de Aguilar, 
who was afterward liberated by Cortes. This event is set down by 
both the book of Chilam Balam of Mani and that of Tzimin against 
katun 2 Ahau, that is, the period preceding katun 13 Ahau, when 
Ahpula Napotxiu is said to have died. 

" Mayapan was destroyed in 8 Ahau. Then followed the katuns 6 
Ahau, 4 Ahau, and 2 Ahau. In the progress of the years of this 
katun the Spanish appeared for the first time ; they came for the first 
time to this land, to the province of Yucatan, sixty years after the 
destruction of the citadel ". So we read in the Chilam Balam of 
Mani. 



334 BUBEAU OF AMEKICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

In the Chilam Balam of Tzimin various lists are written together. 
Katun 8 Ahau and the destruction of Mayapan are given twice. In 
the first list at 2 Ahau Ave read: " In stone ' 13 ' (the division) the 
strangers (the Spaniards) appeared: they came for the first time tx) 
the land of the province of Yucatan" ninety-three years (after the 
destruction of Mayapan)". In the second list, at 2 Ahau, we have 
merely: "Then was the great eruptive sickness" (nohkakil). So, 
too, in the Chilam Balam of Chumayel we have at 2 Ahau only " the 
eruptive sickness, the great eruptive sickness (kakil noh kakil) ". 

If we examine the list we find that the thirteenth division of 2 
Ahau falls, according to my reckoning, in the year 1507, or, if we pre- 
fer the estimates oi Nakuk Pech, in the year 1509. This does not 
agree with facts, for Valdivia's shipwreck, as I stated above, took 
place in 1511 ; and Nakuk Pech also states in two places in his chron- 
icle that the Spanish first came to Yucatan in the year 1511. At all 
events, the year 1511 fell in the katun 2 Ahau, for the latter did not 
end until the year 1514 or, according to Nakuk Pech's statements, the 
year 1516. The statement of the native chroniclers, within these ap- 
proximately established dates, is therefore correct. The great erup- 
tive sickness which occurred, according to the chroniclers, at this 
very time is described by Bishop Landa as an epidemic which caused 
great pustules of such a nature that " the body became putrid and 
stinking and the limbs fell off piecemeal within four or five days ".'' 
It is not improbable that the first appearance of the Spanish was fol- 
lowed by an epidemic of smallpox, that scourge of the Indian race, 
for the word kak, "fire", is used later and at the present day gen- 
erally for " eruptive sickness ", especially smallpox.*^ The chroniclers 
ascribe to 4 Ahau, the period preceding katun 2 Ahau, a pair of 
national calamities: a general mortality (maya-cimil), which Landa 
describes as a " contagious, pernicious fever which lasted 24 hours, 
after which the body swelled and burst and was full of worms"; 
furthermore, a great slaughter. Landa speaks of 150,000 men who 
fell in the battles. Native sources call it oc-na-kuch-il, '^ where the 
Zopilotes come into the houses " ; that is, where the dead lie about 
everywhere unburied. 

Landa also tells us of a great whirlwind prior to these events 
which razed the country and overthrew all high buildings, but this is 
not mentioned by native authors. 

The great event in the pre-Spanish history of Yucatan is the 

^^e wording is almost tlie same as in the Chilam Balam of Mani, except that tz'ul, 
" strangers ". is used instead of " espanioles ", and ilcob is used erroneously for ulcoh, 
" they came " ; hut possihly the former was the original word, in which case it ought to 
he translated '' they were (firsts seen (in the land of Yucatan)". 

" I'estilencia dc unos granos grandes que les pcdria el cuerpo con gran hedor- de manera 
que les caian los miemhros (i pedazos dentro de 4 6 5 dias. 

'^ " Viruelas, granos i erupcion pustulera del cuerpo" (Perez). 



SELER] MAYA CALENDAB IlSr HISTORIC CHROlSrOLOGY 335 

destruction of Mayapan. Mayapan was a city in the interior of 
Yucatan, in the territory of the later principality of Mani, of which 
considerable ruins still existed at the time when Bishop Landa wrote. 
Landa mentions especially large hieroglyphic stones of the nature of 
those usually prepared and set up at the beginning of a katun. The 
name is Mexican. The word j)an, to be sure, is given also in the 
Maya dictionary, with the meaning, " flag ", " standard ", but, 
although this word, too, is probably derived from the Mexi- 
can pam-itl pan-tli, the etymology of the name Mayapan is in all 
probability very different. Mayapan means " among the Mayas ", 
'• in the territory of the Mayas ", as Otompan means •' among the 
Otomi ", " in the land of the Otomi ". It is a purely Mexican name 
construction, quite unlike that in use among the Mayas, where the 
constituent part showing the local or other relation is prefixed, not 
suffixed (for example, Pan-choy, "in the lake"; Ti-kax, "in the 
Avood " ; Ti-bolon, " in the nine " ; Ti-ho, " in the five ", etc.) . 

The name Mayapan, therefore, recalls the period of the pre-Spanish 
history of Yucatan, when fragments of the great Mexican nation 
played a part in that territory. It is to be inferred froin various 
facts that these relations were very active and that the influence of 
the Mexicans was felt for a long time. 

The most famous city in old Yucatan and the most famous ancient 
seat of its rulers was Chichen Itza. Attention has long been 
drawn to the fact that the sculptures in the ruins of this town are of a 
wholly different character from those of the great ruined cities of the 
west, Copan and Palenque, and also from sculptures known to us, 
for instance, from the region of Merida. The attitude of the figures 
is stiffer, the heads are not deformed, and much about the dress and 
adornment reminds us of the types in the Mexican picture writings. 
The principal figures in particular all wear on the forehead the head- 
band Avith the triangular plate of turquoise mosaic, the xiuh-uitzolli 
of the Mexican kings. Charnay, for one, therefore believed that he 
found in Chichen Itza manifest evidence of the correctness of the 
ancient statements in regard to the migration of the Toltecs into 
Yucatan and Guatemala. 

Mayapan in comparison Avas a principality that sprang up in a 
modern period, one that first became prominent after the doAvnfall 
of the kingdom of Chichen Itza and in consequence of that downfall. 
The cause of this downfall is ascribed in all the accounts to the treach- 
ery (kebanthan) of a certain Hunac-ceel, and " the seA^en men of Maya- 
pan " — Ah zinteyut chan, Tzuntecum, Taxcal, Pantemit, Xuchueuet, 
Ytzcuat, and Kakaltecat — are named as the direct authors of the 
destruction of Chichen Itza. Of these seven names the last six are 
purely Mexican, and the first name is a combination of a Mexican 



336 BUEEAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

and a Maya word, with a Maya prefix, which means " the ". Landa's 
story that the rule over Mayapan was founded by a family which 
was supported by the Mexicans living in the great trade centers 
Tabasco and Xicalanco is therefore fully confirmed by native 
authorities. 

Landa further declares that this family, who ruled in Mayapan, 
the Cocom, practiced such constantly growing oppressions that the 
various village chieftains at last rose against them under the leader- 
ship of the chieftain family of Tutul Xiu, very powerful among the 
ahuitz (" people of the sierra ") in the sierra district, that is, in the 
district of Mani, and slew all members of the Cocom tribe within 
their reach and destroyed the "citadel Mayapan". The destruc- 
tion of Mayapan is accordingly the great event in the pre-Spamsh 
history of Yucatan, as it represents the national reaction against a 
government supported by strangers; but its result was that there 
was thenceforth no central power in the land. Various chieftain 
families possessed greater or smaller portions of the land and waged 
war one against another by every means of treachery and open 

violence. 

According to Landa's statement, at the time when he wrote his 
Relaciones, that is, in the year 1556, about 120 years had passed 
since the fall of Mayapan. Most of the native sources place the 
event in the katun 8 Ahau, and this agrees exactly with both Landa's 
statement and my reckoning, for according to my reckoning katun 8 
Ahau began on January 19 of the year 1436. 

Important as this event was, even the native chroniclers are not 
agreed in regard to it. For although, as I said, the majority of them 
accept katun 8 Ahau as the correct date, yet there is a list, the second 
of the Chilam Balam of Chumayel, which places the destruction of 
Mayapan in katun 1 Ahau, which would be in the period between 
the years 1377 and 1397; and in another list, that of the Chilam 
Balam of Mam, katun 8 Ahau and katun 11 Ahau seem to be given 
side by side. Katun 1 Ahau seems to be given as the date of the 
event because this list accepts katun 1 Ahau as the beginning of a 
great cycle of 13 katuns; and the selection of 11 Ahau seems to rest^ 
upon similar considerations, for the circumstance that the great and 
destructive event of the permanent establishment of the Spanish m 
the countrv occurred in katun 11 Ahau afforded many of the native 
authors a motive for beginning the greater cycle of katuns with katun 

11 Ahau. . . . 

No serious attempt was made to fix with chronologic precision the 
events previous to the destruction of Mayapan which are men- 
tioned—the fall of the principality of Chichen Itza. the sojourn ot 
the Itza people in Champoton, the immigration into Yucatan, and 



SBLER] MAYA CALENDAE IN HISTORIC CHEONOLOGY 337 

the first founding of Chichen Itza. Here the principal events are all 
set each a full period of 13 katims before the succeeding one ; that is, 
all either in 8 Ahau or all in 1 Ahau, the computation including in all 
four full periods of 256 yea rs-^ 146 days. A peculiar feature is found 
in a third list contained in the Chilam Balam of Chumayel, which is 
printed in Brinton's Maya Chronicles, pages 178 and 170, and which 
for various reasons claims our especial interest. Katun 4 Ahau is 
mentioned here before the historic events occurring in 8 Ahau, on 
the one hand, as the period in which the mythic kingdom of Chichen 
Itza came to an end, and therefore as the period in which the human 
race took its origin; that is, when the great and small descent (great 
and small immigration) occurred and men met together in Chichen 
Itza from the four cardinal points. This is the only passa*^e known 
to me in the books of Chilam Balam which seems to contain any refer- 
ence to the normal and initial date of the Dresden manuscript — 4 
Ahau, 8 Cumku. 

Although the books of Chilam Balam do not yield very much for 
chronology, they are all the more fruitful in intelligence regard- 
ing that side of the Maya calendar which was incontestably the 
most assiduously cultivated and which undoubtedly occupies a large 
space in the Maya manuscripts, composing the chief, perhaps the 
only, contents thereof ; that is, the augural side, the consideration of 
the divinatory power which belongs to the signs and numerals of 
days and the other greater and lesser divisions of time. But I must 
reserve the explanation of these matters for a future communication. 

7238— No. 28—05 22 



TEMPLE PYRAMID OF TEPOXTLAN 



EDUARD SELER 



339 



TEMPLE PYRAMID OF TEPOXTLAN 



By Edtjard Seler 



The causeway leading from the City of Mexico, which runs south- 
ward, formerly through the waters of the salt lake itself, now through 
meadow land, to Churubusco, the ancient Uitzilopochco, where the 
road branches off to Chalco, and to the margin of the great lava 
stream, which extends from a little volcano below the lofty Cerro 
de Ajusco to the plain lying 2,300 meters above the sea. A traveler 
leaving the city by this road sees before him a high mountain range, 
which connects the towering Ajusco with the snow-capped cone of 
Popocatepetl and in this direction forms the termination of the 
undrained basin of Mexico. This mountain range is crossed from 
Xochimilco by a long, gradually ascending path, which finally leads 
into extensive pine forests covering the whole breadth of the ridge. 
Another road, from Chalco, runs in the valley of Amecameca, 
immediately at the western base of Popocatepetl, to a less elevated 
path. In both places the mountain slopes on the south quite pre- 
cipitously to the valleys below, the streams of which flow into the 
Kio de las Balsas. These are the valleys of Cuernavaca, situated 
about 1,600 meters above the sea, and of Yautepec, lying about 500 
meters lower. They have been celebrated from ancient times for 
their mild climate. Here the Mexican kings had their pleasure gar- 
dens, in which they cultivated plants of the tierra caliente that did 
not thrive in Mexico itself. Cortes did not fail to include this dis- 
trict within the limits of his marquesado, and the viceroys, and also 
the unfortunate Maximilian, loved to sojourn in this favored vale. 
Midway between Yautepec and Cuernavaca, directly at the foot 
of the loft}^ mountain range towering on the north, on a riblike 
spur at the upper end of a range of hills and ridges which divides the 
valleys of Yautepec and Cuernavaca, in the center of a small plain 

"■ Die Tempel pyramide von Tepoztlan, Globus, v. 73, n. 8. 

341 



342 



BUEEAU OF AMEKICAlSr ETHNOLOGY 



[BULL. 28 



forming the extreme northwestern extremity of the valley of Cuern- 
avaca, lies the small town of Tepoxtlan. Although but 3 miles" 
distant from each of the cities previously named, this place, because 
it is situated quite away from the great highroads radiating, from 
the capital and at the foot of the mountain, has remained until very 
recently little known or investigated. The ancient inhabitants, who 
undoubtedly were of the same race as the Tlalhuics of Cuernavaca, 
have in the main shared the history of the latter. Cuernavaca, 
the ancient Quauhnauac, was the first territory which fell into the 
hands of the Mexicans when they began to spread beyond the limits 
of the valley. In the reign of the third Mexican king, Itzcouatl, 
who reigned in the second quarter of the fifteenth century, the siege 
and subjugation of Cuernavaca is reported, and under Motecuhzoma 
Ilhuicamina, the king succeeding Itzcouatl, Tepoxtlan is named in 
the Mendoza codex, together with Quauhnauac, Uaxtepec, and Yau- 




a ted f 

Fig. 83. Symbols of pueblos, from Mexican codices. 

tepee, among the conquered cities (see hieroglyphs a to cZ, figure 83). 
The Historia Mexicana of the year 1576 (Aubin-Goupil codex) 
reports in connection with the accession to the throne in the year 
1487 of King Ahuitzotl, which was celebrated with great sacrifices of 
captives, that new" kings had been installed in Quauhnauac, Tepox- 
tlan, Uaxtepec, and Xiloxochitepec (see hieroglyphs e and /). 

In the tribute list (Mendoza codex, page 26, no. 13) Tepoxtlan, the 
"place of the ax ", is again put with the same towns in the Uaxtepec 
group (see i). Cortes came into contact with Tepoxtlan in the year 
1521 on his march from Yautepec to Cuernavaca, when, because the 
inhabitants did not voluntarily surrender, he burned the town. 
Bernal Diaz extols the fine w^omen (muy buenas mugeres) and the 
booty which the soldiers obtained here. After the establishment of 
Spanish rule Tepoxtlan, with Cuernavaca, was included in the prin- 
cipality, which, with the title Marques del Valle de Oaxaca, was 
awarded Cortes as recompense for his distinguished services.'' A 
manuscrij)t Relacion of the year 1582, Avhich is preserved with 
others of like character in the Archivo General de las Indias in Se- 

" 14 English miles. Ed. 

''See the picture manuscript of tlie liiblioteca Nazionale in Florence, folio 37. 



sbler] 



TEMPLE PYKAMID OF TEPOXTLAN" 343 



villa, refers to the place as Villa de Tepoxtlan, and mentions six 
estancias subordinate to it. In the same Relacion it is also stated that 
the Mexican language was spoken by the inhabitants, both by those 
who still lived i]i the place and those who, having become disgusted 
with the country, had emigrated to the neighborhood of Vera Cruz. 
Through incorporation into the marquesado the town was doubtless 
saved from oppression and vexation by lesser encomenderos. In 
their isolated mountain home the people have been able to preserve 
their language and their old customs. The place has now a popula- 
tion numbering from 5,000 to 6,000 souls of fairly pure Indian 
descent, who speak pure, uncorrupted Mexican, are proud of their 
descent, and cling tenaciously to the ancient traditional customs. 
It is deserving of mention as an interesting fact that since last year 
a newspaper has been published here with the title El Grano de 
Arena, which, besides the Spanish text, always contains several 
columns of matter in the Mexican language. 

As we passed through the town of Ciiernavaca in December, 1887, 
on the return from our expedition to Xochicalco we were told that 
there was a pyramid in Tepoxtlan as interesting as that of Xochi- 
calco. We wished to visit it, but the governor of the state of Morelos 
told us at that time— whether correctly I leave undecided— that he 
could not permit it, for '' these Indians are terrible ". As we had still 
so much else to see we did not insist upon it. Beyond this general 
report nothing has been known until very recently of the pyramid of 
Tepoxtlan ; but two years ago, when the extraordinary session of the 
Americanist Congress was about to be held in Mexico and an effort 
was being made throughout the whole country to furnish something 
fresh in the nature of relics and finds for the scholars attending this 
meeting, the thought arose even in Tepoxtlan of freeing the pyramid 
of that locality from the rubbish hiding it from view and of opening 
up its interior chambers and outer walls. A young engineer, Fran- 
cisco Rodriguez, a native of Tepoxtlan, followed out this idea with 
enthusiasm and strove to carry it into execution. He was able to 
induce the people of his district to furnish volunteer labor, and thus 
in the months of August and September, 1895, the pyramid was un- 
covered, a result of which the Tepoxtecs themselves are now quite 
proud. A description of the pyramid, including a plan of the struc- 
ture, was submitted by Mr Rodriguez to the congress assembled in 
October of the year 1895. It has now been published in the pro- 
ceedings of the congress. Later, accompanied by Mr Rodriguez, Mr 
Marshall H. Saville visited the pyramid and took several photo- 
graphs of it. In August, 1896, Mr Saville read a report on this 
pyramid before the American Association for the Advancement of 
Sciences, convened in Buffalo, which was published in volume 8 of 
the bulletins of the American Museum of Natural History, and again 



344 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

later in the journal Monumental Records. From this and from Mr 
Rodriguez's report I gathered the information which appears below : 

The pyramid is situated about 2,000 feet above the town, on a cliff 
detached from the ridge of the mountain range, which north of the 
town rises rugged and precipitous above the level plain. The 
pyramid itself is not visible from the plain, but its approximate 
location is marked by huge crags which on the left project above 
the mountain ridge. From the foot of the precipice the road ascends 
through a small canyon. Several long flights of steps are encoun- 
tered, some of them cut into the rock, others built of masonry. 
Carved inscriptions are to be seen here and there on the perpen- 
dicular walls of the ravine. About halfway to the top the road 
emerges from the canyon and winds aloft on the very face of the 
cliff. For nearly 100 steps, according to Saville's statement, the 
ascent is almost perpendicular. Steps are hew^n into the rock or 
supported by masonry. When Rodriguez began his excavations here 
he was obliged to use ladders in two places, because the way was 
obstructed by fallen rock fragments. When the top of the cliff is 
finally reached it is seen to consist of two separate plateaux which 
are connected by a narrow neck. On the western one of these two 
plateaux is the temple pyramid ; the eastern one is almost completely 
covered with foundation walls of buildings of different kinds and 
sizes, which probably were the dwellings of priests, and other build- 
ings adjoining. Behind rises a rocky cliff covered wdth pine woods, 
which can only be reached from this spot, and here Mr Rodriguez 
found running water. 

Viewed from the east side, the pyramid is seen to rise in three 
terraces over a rough substructure that forms a horizontal base on 
the uneven, rocky ground (see figure 84, from a photograph). A 
flight of steps on this side leads up to the top of the first terrace, 
which, rising to a height of 9.5 meters above the rock foundation, 
forms the broad base of the building proper, formed by the 
two other terraces. A second stairway on the south side near the 
entrance of the temple leads to the top of the lower terrace (see the 
plan, plate xl). On the west side, which is the front of the temple, 
this first terrace forms a small platform {e on the plan, plate xl), 
and in the center of this there is a low rectangular bench, <:/„ with 
serrated corners, up which flights of steps probably led on all four 
sides. The location of this little structure corresponds to the spot 
where, in the great temple of Mexico, stood the two round stones, the 
quauhxicalli and the temalacatl, and it was probably used for simi- 
lar sacrificial purposes. I also found a very similar structure in 
Quiengola in the middle line of the platform of the east pyramid, 
whose front likewise faced the west. From this platform a stairway 
leads to the top of the second terrace and to the entrance of the temple 






V 




o 


1 


() 


1 


1 


i 1 


o 









i-"^'- "JC"^"" -f—Se: 






-# 




seler] 



TEMPLE PYRAMID OF TEPOXTI,AN 



345 



itself, which the third terrace forms. This temple is formed of walls 
1.9 meters thick, constructed of blocks of red and black tezontle 
(porous volcanic I'ock) with copious mortar of lime and sand, 
and reaching to a height of 2.5 meters. The roof has fallen in. 
From the ruins Mr Rodriguez was still able to determine that it 
had been a flat arch, with a maximum rise of 0.5 meter, a span 
of 5 meters, and a thickness of 0.7 meter, formed of pieces of tezontle 
and a great quantity of mortar, the use of which in thick layers made 
the construction possible. On the site of the front wall are to be 
seen the remains of two rectangidar masonry columns, which left 
a wide central doorway with a narrow one on each side. The inte- 




FiG. 84. Temple pyramid of Tepoxtlan, valley of Cuernavaca. 

rior space is divided by a wall, 0.9 meter thick, pierced by a door- 
way, into two rooms, of which the front one runs back 8.73 and the 
inner one 5.2 meters, with a width of 6 meters. In the middle of the 
front room Rodriguez found a rectangular depression « (& in the 
plan, plate xl), and in it remains of charcoal and a couple of well- 
preserved pieces of copal. This was probably, therefore, the hearth 
where the sacred fire burned and whence, perhaps, glowing coals 
were obtained with which to burn incense to the god. 

In the axis of the inner chamber against the rear wall stood the 
idol. The doorwav connecting the two rooms has a width of 1.9 



° " Una oquedad ". 
form ". 



Saville erroneously wi-ites in this place " a raised rectangular plat- 



346 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



[BULL. 28 



meters. It is flanked by two pillars, which are covered with stucco 
and richly ornamented. At the bottom there is a sort of fluting; 
above this a grecque in relief, like those in the palaces at Mitla, and 
at the top a picture of the sun, only the lower part of which is still 
preserved. All are painted in color, and the colors are still tolerably 
fresh. In the place where the idol stood, in the rear room, Rodri- 
guez found remains of a substructure {a on the plan, plate xl) 
among which were two sculptured fragments, one of them, according 
to his account, containing a bas-relief, of what character is not stated, 
painted in a deep red color; the other, the relief picture of a Mexi- 
can royal crown (xiuh-uitzoUi). Both pieces are now preserved in 




Fig. 85. View of the interior of Tepoxtlan, after Saville. 

the cabildo of Tepoxtlan, in a room transformed into a museum. 
The most interesting feature of the inner apartment are the benches, 
ornamented on the front with carved stones. These run round a part 
of the front room and along the rear and both lateral walls of 
the back room [c on the plan, plate xl). They display at the upper 
part a narrow, somewhat projecting frieze, on which, it seems, the 
twenty characters for the days are represented. Beneath this (see 
figure 85), on each lateral wall, there are placed four large slabs, 
with symbols in relief, apparently relating to the four cardinal 
points." On the south side we see what seem to be the four prehis- 
toric ages; on the north side the gods corresponding to the four 



seler] 



TEMPLE PYEAMID OF TEPOXTLAIST 



347 



cardinal points are represented by their symbols. I must forego 
attempting to explain these more exactly until casts or good photo- 
graphs are submitted for study. The reliefs on the rear wall are, 
perhaps, of a still more interesting nature, but unfortunately here a 
portion of the bench is destroyed. It is to be hoped that Mr Saville, 
who has now started again for Tepoxtlan and Xochicalco, will bring 
liome satisfactory casts and make known these representations. 

Finally, in addition to the above, two stone tablets, which were 
found built into the south wall of the lower terrace of the pyramid, 
are of special importance. One (<?, figure 86) contains the hieroglyph 
of King Ahuitzotl, who derived his name from a small ghostlike water 
animal, which, according to Mexican tales, played the role of a sort 
of nixj and was represented in this form. On the other slab a rab- 
bit is depicted, and beside it are 10 circles, which would indicate the 
3^ear 10 Tochtli, corresponding to the year 1502 of the Christian chro- 
nolog;y', the last year of Ahuitzotrs reign, or the year of his death. 
Saville has interpreted these two tablets quite correctly, and he cou- 





rt b c 

Fig. 80. Glyphs of the king Auitzotl. 



eludes that the year of the erection of the temple and its builder were 
thus immortalized. This is probably correct, in which case, in truth, 
" the ancient temple of Tepoxtlan would be the only aboriginal struc- 
ture still standing in Mexico to which we can with probability assign 
a certain date ''. 

It would next be desirable to know to which god sacrifices were 
offered in this place. Neither Rodriguez nor Saville have attempted 
to answer this question. I am fortunately in a position to be able 
to decide this matter beyond dispute. There was a class of deities 
among the Mexicans which excited the special wonderment and 
abhorrence of the monks and the Spaniards generally. These were 
the pulque gods, or the gods of drunkenness. As we say (in German) 
of a drunken man that " he has got an ape ", so the Mexicans, of 
course, with a doubtless wholly different train of thought, spoke of a 
rabbit (tochtli), under whose influence the intoxicated person acted. 
They said he had "rabbited himself" (omotochtili), when anyone 
drank to insensibility and in this condition came to any harm. Hence 



348 BUREAtJ OF AMERICAlSr ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

the gods of drunkenness were also called Totochtin, " rabbits ". The 
day ome Tochtli, " 2 rabbits ", was under their influence. Whoever 
was born on that day, if he did not take special precautions, seemed 
inevitably doomed to become a drunkard. Since there were dif- 
ferent kinds of drunkenness, intoxication manifesting itself with 
different people in very different ways, the " 400 rabbits " (centzon 
totochtin) were spoken of " as though one intended to say that pulque 
made innumerable kinds of drunkards"." Hence the pulque gods 
were also designated as centzon Totochtin, the " 400 rabbits ", and a 
large number of them were specified by particular names. Con- 
cerning the significance of these deities, this one fact is of primary 
importance, that they are all closely related to the earth goddess. 
Like her, they wear the golden Huaxtec nose ornament, shaped 
like a crescent, which was called yaca-metztli. This ornament is 
so characteristic of them that it is usually marked on all objects 
dedicated to the pulque gods. A second characteristic of these deities 
is the bicolored face, painted red and black. The two colors, in 
many parallel red and black longitudinal stripes, likewise served to 
denote an object as consecrated to the pulque gods. Thus, in the pic- 
ture manuscript of the Biblioteca Nazionale in P'lorence, the manta 
de dos conejos, "blanket of the 2 rabbits" (ome-tochtilmatli), the 
shoulder covering of the pulque gods, and, in the same manuscript, the 
shield of Macuil-Xochitl, are marked in this way. These gods are 
characterized by a remark which occurs above them in the picture man- 
uscript of the Biblioteca Nazionale in Florence still more exactly than 
by their relation to the earth goddess. The pulque gods in this 
manuscript are represented after or among the fiestas mobiles, imme- 
diately after the feast of flowers (chicome xochitl and ce xochitl), 
and it is stated in this place that " when the Indians had harvested 
and gathered in their maize, then they drank to intoxication and 
danced Avhile they invoked this demon and others of these four hun- 
dred ". It seems, therefore, that here we have to do with gods of 
husbandry, who were to impart virtue to the soil as the pulque— and 
this is always brought out— imparts courage and strength and was 
the drink of the fearless and strong, the eagles and jaguars (quauhtli 
and ocelotl) , that is, the warriors. 

Among the names by which these gods were known, in addition to 
ome Tochtli, " 2 rabbits ", which refers directly to their nature as 
pulque gods, we meet almost exclusively such as are derived from 
place names, or at least are formed in a similar manner to those 
derived from place names, as Acolhua, Colhuatzincatl, Toltecatl, 
Totoltecatl, Izquitecatl, Chimalpanecatl, Yauhtecatl, Tezcatzoncatl, 
Tlaltecayoua, Pahtecatl, Papaztac, Tlilhua: and a pulque god Tepox- 
tecatl, a god of Tepoxtlan, is repeatedly and prominently mentioned. 

« Sabagnn, v. 4. chap. 5. 



selee] 



TEMPLE PYRAMID OF TEPOXTLAN 



349 



If the fact is taken into consideration that the temple which I have 
described above is still called by the people " casa del Tepozteco ", 
then the supposition is not far to seek that it is our Tepoxtlan from 
which the pulque god Tepoxtecatl (figure 87) derived his name, and 
this supposition is confirmed by two good witnesses. In the Relacion 
that I already mentioned at the beginning, which was the reply to 
an inquiry blank, dispatched -under King Philip II with the same 
wording to all towns of the Spanish colonial territory, the question 
concerning the name of this place and the meaning of the name is 
answered thus: " They say that the place is named Tepoxtlan because, 
when their ancestors settled this land, they found this name already 




Fig. 87. Tepoxtecatl, the pulque god, from Mexican painting in 
Biblioteca Nazionale, Florence. 

in use, for those who settled there before (or first) said that the great 
devil, or idol, which they had, was called Ome tuchitl, that is, ' 2 
rabbits ', and that he bore the surname Tepoxtecatl ". The other tes- 
timony is furnished by the often-mentioned picture manuscript of the 
Biblioteca Nazionale in Florence, which, besides various other pulque 
gods, represents Tepoxtecatl in full figure and in hieroglyph and re- 
marks concerning him : " This is the representation of a great in- 
iquity which was the custom in a village named Tepoxtlan; namely, 
when an Indian died in a state of intoxication the others of this vil- 
lage made a great feast to him, holding in their hands copper axes 
which were used to fell wood. This village is near Yautepeque. 
They are vassals of the Lord Marques del Valle '\ 

In figure 87 I give the picture of the pulque god Tepoxtecatl and 



350 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



[BULL. 28 



his hieroglyph, the copper ax, from the picture manuscript of the 
Biblioteca Nazionale in Florence. The various 
things by which these gods are usually distinguished 
in the picture manuscripts are here given distinctly 
and well — the bicolored face, the crescent-shaped 
nose ornament (yaca-metztli), the bicolored shield 
(ometoch-chimalli) adorned with the same nose 
crescent, the long necklace hanging down, made of 
the herb malinalli (tlachayaual-cozcatl), and the 
stone ax (iztopolli, tecpatopolli). This picture in- 
deed gives very little assistance in determining the 
appearance of the idol that stood in the cella of the 
casa del Tepozteco. When I was in Cuernavaca I 
saw in the house of the licenciado Cecilio Robelo a 
stone image, which originally came from Tepoxtlan. 
I made a hasty sketch of it at the time, which is re- 
produced in figure 88. There was a very similar stone image from 




Fig. S8. Stone idol 
from Tepoxtlan. 




Fig. 89. Stone figure from the Ulide collection. 



sblee] 



TEMPLE PYRAMID OF TEPOXTLAN 



351 



Hiiautla in Mr. Robledo's possession. In the old Uhde collection in 
the Koyal Museum of Ethnology in Berlin there are others of a very 
similar character (figure 39). These are by no means images of 
the pulque gods, but probably represent Macuil-xochitl, the god of 
gaming, who is indeed frequently named together with the pulque 
gods. If any stone image is entitled to give us an idea of the 
idol which stood in the cella of the casa del Tepozteco, it is the fine 




Fig. 90. Stone figure of pulque god, 
Trocadero Museum. 

statue in the Musee du Trocadero (figure 90), which is reproduced 
under the title " Statue en calcaire, Toltec arme de la hache de 
pierre " on page ix of the magnificent album recently published with 
the title '' Galerie Americaine du Musee d'Ethnographie du Troca- 
dero ", for which the Due de Loubat, with his accustomed liber- 
ality, has again provided the means. That is without question a 
pulque god, a Tepoxtecatl, distinguished by tlie crescent-shaped nose 



352 



BUEEAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



[bull. 28 



plate, the stone ax, the ear pendants, which correspond exactly to 
those in our figure 87, the frontal in the form of a Mexican royal 
crown, examples of which are also worn by the pulque god in the 
Borgian codex, page 26 ; Codex Vaticanus B, page TO (or Codex Vati- 
canus 3TT3, page 31) and Codex Vaticanus B, page 7 (or Codex Vati- 
canus 3773, page 30) , and lastly also by the forehead knot of Quet- 
zalcoatl, which is to be seen likewise on the pulque god in Codex 
Telleriano-Remensis II, page 16, in Codex Vaticanus A, page 35, and, 
in a somewhat different form, also on page 11 of the Tonalamatl of 
the Aubin-Goupil collection. 




Fig. 91. "Juego de pelota ", from Tepoxtlan. 

In conclusion, I give in figure 91 the photographs of several other 
relics which Avere found in Tepoxtlan. The ring-shaped stone in the 
center came from a ball ground. On it there is the large figure of a 
bird and thereunder the date " 2 house " (ome Calli). 

It is to be hoped that the interest once aroused among the patriotic 
inhabitants of Tepoxtlan will continue, and that further investiga- 
tions will produce other important material for the study of the 
ancient civilization and history of these regions." 



« I am indebted to Dr Max Buchner, of Munich, for the photographs (figs. 84 and 91), 
and for the plan (pi. xl), drawn b.v Mr Rodriguez, to Mr Marshall H. Saville, of New 
I'orli. I was enabled to make use of the pictui-e manuscript of the Biblioteca Nazionale in 
Florence through the kindness of Mrs Zelia Nuttall, to whom I wish to express my sincere 
thanks. Mrs Nuttall discovered this important manuscript in the lilwary and intends to 
publish it. 



f5estemann] 



THE LAEGE NTJMBEES 401 



The last two remainders are both meant for the day VIII 17. 
Now, directly in the middle of the page the day X 17 is recorded, 
but over the X an VIII is written quite fine as a correction. 

Without being set down a second time, these last two large num- 
bers are the minuends in the two final cases; but the subtrahends, 
which should really be encircled, do not stand here, but on page 73, 
at the top of the fourth and fifth columns, at the farther end of the 
series of numbers which extends from pages 70 to 73, since there was 
no room for them on page 70. Thus we read : 

Page 70. 1,567,332— (pafije 73) 34,732=1,532,600, again=VIII 17. 
Page 70. 1,520,6.54— (page 73) 83,474=1.437,180, again=--VIII 17, as we 
read page 70 corrected. 

Thus it is proved by twenty-one large and as many smaller numbers 
surrounded by circles and by applying but few and insignificant con- 
jectures, in the first place, that the circles in a way signified the minus 
sign (— ) with the Mayas and, in the second, that the large numbers 
always denoted particular days. As a rule, then, the large number 
is the minuend and the encircled number the subtrahend, while the 
remainder is recorded in the manuscript, not by a number, but by 
its corresponding day. 

But there are found on pages 51 and 52 six more large numbers 
without such encircled subtrahends ; unfortunately, these are in parts 
very indistinct and probably spoiled. First, on page 51, the numer- 
als 8, 16, 4, 11, occur. If an 8 is read here instead of the 11, 
the result is the number 1,268,800 ; that is, the most important of all 
days, IV 17, which likewise seems to be recorded above. Numerals 
in red, 10, 19, 6, 0, 8, are crowded in between these numbers. If 
we substitute a 1 here for the 0, we have 1,578,988, the day XII 5, 
therefore, and this date is set down below. 

The following page, 52, at the right near the top, contains four 
large numbers, again two black ones with two red ones written in 
among them, two in the fifth and two in the sixth column. The two 
occurring in the sixth present no difficulty; they are 1,412,848 and 
1,412,863, and below the days XII 5 and I 20 are specified, which, in 
fact, correspond to the numbers. The difference between the numbers, 
as between the days, is 15. On the other hand, the numbers in the 
fifth column can not be made to agree. The manuscript reads 9, 16, 
4, 10, 18, and 9, 19, 8, 7, 8. I propose in the first number to read 11 
instead of 10 and in the second 5 instead of the first 8 ; then the num- 
bers will denote 1,412,878 and 1,434,748, and these actually correspond 
to the days III 15 and VII 5, which are recorded below. In fact, the 
first of the two numbers is distant by a difference of 15 from the num- 
ber 1,412,863, as well as the first of the two days, from the day I 20 

7238— No. 28—05 26 



402 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

mentioned above. I am forced to confess that my conjecture in 
regard to the last number is somewhat uncertain. Still, it answers 
the requirement in so far as it shows the difference 30, the same as is 
shown by the corresponding days, since its distance from the last 
number but one is 21,870; that is, 84X260+30. Multiples of 260 are 
naturally indifferent here. 

Of all the numbers in the manuscript, reaching a million, only one 
still remains to be discussed, with the exception of those between the 
coils of the serpents on pages 61, 62, and 69. This is 2,804,100, on 
page 31, in the last but one of the upper columns. It is authentic, 
since it is equal to 10,785X260, corresponding therefore to the day IV 
17, repeatedly recorded near by. Besides this, it is equal to 147 X 
18,980+14,040, to wit, 147 katuns of 52 years augmented by the num- 
ber 14,040, which number is extremely important in the manuscript, 
although it is still enigmatic. 

The ten numbers between the coils of the five serpents, mentioned 
above, which seem to attain the sum of twelve millions, I shall leave 
undiscussed for the present,° for their interpretation is not yet ripe 
for publication, although remarkable relations are already indicated. 

In my opinion my demonstration also definitely proves that these 
large numbers do not proceed from the future to the past, but from 
the past, through the present, to tlie future. Unless I am quite 
mistaken, the highest numbers among them seem actually to reach 
into the future, and thus to have a prophetic meaning. Here the 
question arises, At Avhat point in this series of numbers does the 
present lie? or. Has the Avriter in different portions of his work 
adopted different points of time as the present ? If I may venture to 
express my conjecture, it seems to me that the first large number in 
the whole manuscript, the 1,366,560 in the second column of page 24, 
has the greatest claim to be interpreted as the present point of time. 
It denotes the expiration of 12 ahau katuns of 312 years each ; that 
is, 3,744 years. 

In conclusion, I w^ill remark that none of the large numbers furnish 
me with any indication that a year of 365^ days was already known 
to the Mayas. In these calculations, at least, which seem to treat of 
sacred matters, the exposition may not have kept pace with the knowl- 
edge in the meantime acquired, as often happens in similar cases, of 
which the Kussian calendar furnishes a good example. 

The Dates of the Calendar 

I do not mean here those short combinations of the number of 
the week dav with the day sign, for they have long been understood, 



"They have been discuBsed and explained by Thomas in Mayan Calendar Systems, II, 
22d Rep., B. A. E., pt. 1, 1004. 



FOKSTBMANN] THE DATES OF THE CALE]SrDAK 403 

both singly and joined together as series of days; but I mean rather 

the more definite statements which give a date that is unequivocal 

during a period of 52 years, in which the symbol of the month and the 

position in the month are added to the number of the week day and 

the day sign. To begin at once with the zero j)oint frequently used in 

Maya chronology (on pages 24, 31, 51, 52, 58, 62, 63, 69, 70 of the 

Dresden manuscri23ts, occurring several times in places), they are the 

figures of this formula : 

IV 17th day 4 Ahati. 

or 
8, ISth month 8 Cumku. 

In what follows I shall write these groups in one line only (thus 
IV 17 ; 8, 18th month) , although in the manuscript they have the form 
given above. 

A striking feature in these, the commonest of all groups, is that 
they appear to designate a quite impossible day, since every month 
begins with one of the year regents (the first, sixth, eleventh, or six- 
teenth day), and consequently the seventeenth clay can never have the 
eighth place in the month. This group must accordingl}'' be under- 
stood as designating the day IV 17, which the eighth day of the 
eighteenth month immediately succeeds. One must constantly sub- 
tract 1 from the number standing before the month sign in order 
to find the clay intended. This rule proves to be correct in every 
case where no defacement is found. Such designation by the day 
following is not extraordinary. Consider the use of pridie in Latin 
or the Greek manner of designating b^^ rrj Ttporspaia and of count- 
ing backward, as evvar?] (pS-ivovrog. Our own holy eve preceding 
holidays is something similar. In the Maya calendar itself the 
periods of 24 years, the ahaus, are not counted by new year's days but 
by the second days of the years (see Erlauterungen, page 22). 

After these preliminary remarks, we will examine the dates of the 
calendar that occur in the manuscript, and consider especially their 
usual combination with the encircled numbers and the large numbers. 
In this I must be brief, and leave much to the reader's own computa- 
tion. 

On page 24, at the bottom of the first three columns, are the three 
dates : 

IV 17; 8, 18th month. I 17; 18, 17th month. I 17; 18, 3d month. 

These dates occur in the years 9 Ix, 3 Kan, and 10 Kan. In 
order to fix the difference of time between them it is necessary to read 
from right to left. From the eighteenth day of the third month in 
the year 10 Kan to the eighteenth day of the seventeenth month in the 
year 3 Kan it is 32 years and 280 days, or 11,960 days — a very impor- 
tant number in our manuscript (for example, on pages 51 to 58) . From 
the eighteenth day of the seventeenth month in the year 3 Kan to the 



404 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHISTOLOGY 



[bull. 28 



eighth day of the eighteenth month in the year 9 Ix it is, moreover, 6 
years and 10 days; consequently 2,200 days, and, as we saw above. 
this 2,200 siirroimded by a circle is actually set down with the three 
dates, and designates the difference between the two large numbers, 
which are found above it. 

On page 31, lowest line of the upper third, IV 17; 18th month is 
twice given, the writer having evidently forgotten the 8 before the 
month sign. As far as we now see, only the known zero point for the 
large numbers occurring above it is given. Here, as in many cases, we 
should obtain more exact knowledge if the upper line of the page had 
not been destroyed. 

Pages 46 to 50, of which I have spoken more particularly in my 
Erlauterungen, pages 34 to 35 and 65 to 66 (although there are still 
several errors in the statements of the days and the months in the 
last-named passage), contain no fewer than 780 such calendar dates, 
which would seem at first sight quite impossible, but is actually the 
case. For at the top, on the left, each page contains fifty-two simple 
entries of days, consisting of the number of the week day and the day 
sign, but underneath, in three lines separated from each other, are 
twelve dates in all, consisting of the month sign with the preceding 
day number. Each of these fifty-two day entries, together with each 
of the three entries standing directly beneath, constitute a complete 
and perfectly appropriate calendar date, and these separate dates show 
the correct interval of 90, 250, 8, and 236 days, demonstrated in my 
Erlauterungen to represent the apparent revolution of Venus. Each 
page, therefore, contains 52X3, or 156 calendar dates, and the five 
pages together have 780. These are arranged in thirty-nine lines 
having four dates on each page; but the lines are always to be read 
straight through all the five pages. As I am not able to reproduce the 
thirty-nine lines here, I will, at least, give the first one, consisting of 
twent}^ terms : 

6, 17th month. 
17, 10th month. 

7, 15th month. 
12, 9th month. 

0, 10th month. 
11, 3d month. 

1, 8th month. 

The item 0, 10th month, probably erroneously written for 20. 10th 
month, in the twelfth place, is, of course, the same as 20, 9th month. 
Now let the years be calculated in which these twenty dates must 
occur and we have the following: 

11 Ix, 11 Ix, 12 Cauac, 12 Cauac, 12 Cauac, 13 Kan, 13 Kan. 13 Kan, 1 
Mukic, 1 Muhic, 2 Ix, 2 Ix, 3 Cauac, 3 Cauac, 4 Kan, 4 Kan, 4 Kan, 4 Kan, 
5 Muluc, 5 Muluc. 



III 13; 4, 7th month. 
II 3; 14, 11th month. 

. V 13; 19, 5th month. 

XIII 1; 7, 6th month. 

II 17; 3, 18th month. 

I 7; 8, 4th month. 

IV 17; 18, 16th month. 



XII 5 

I 1 

XIII 11 

III 1 

XI 9 

XIII 5 

XII 15 



II 5; 6, 2d month. 

X 13; 14, 2d month. 

XII 9; 10, 14th month. 

XI 19: 20, 18th month. 

I 9; 5, 13th month. 

IX 17; 13, 13th month. 



FoitsTBMANN] THE DATES OP THE CALENDAR 405 

The first date of the second line, I must add, is XI 13; 4, Tth 
month, and denotes a year 6 Ix. Since from the year 11 Ix to the 
year 6 Ix it is 8 years, all the thirty-nine lines will extend over 312 
years, or an Ahau katim ; but I will here remark, in order not to be 
accused of carelessness, that the gaps after the thirteenth and twenty- 
sixth lines have not escaped me. 

On page 51, at the top, on the left, is undoubtedly the date IV IT; 
8, 18th month, half obliterated. Below it there is certainly another 
date, namely, XII 5, and probably, added to it, the sign of the thir- 
teenth month, with the symbol kin (" sun ") before it. I should like 
to read 1, 13th month, and regard the 8 over the kin as an error, 
assuming that the Avriter had overhastily begun to write the number 
beginning with an 8 which stands below before he had written down 
the calendar date. The matter is far from clear, owing to tlie uncer- 
tainty, stated above, in regard to the large numbers. 

Page 52, at the top, on the right, twice has the normal date IV IT .; 
8, 18th month, though it is half obliterated. 

On page 58, at the bottom, on the right, we again find the normal 
ijate, and with it another, namely, XIII 6 ; 11th month. It is evident 
that before the month sign a number has been omitted, in my opinion 
a 2. This indicates the year 8 Muluc, and shows (read from right 
to left) a distance of 1 year and 146 days from the normal date, 
that is 511 days, exactly the same number that we found above in 
the encircled number standing there. 

Page 61 has the normal date in the middle of the first and second 
columns, while at their lower end it has IX 1 ; 12, ITth month (that is, 
the year 4 Ix) , which date is repeated at the top of the third and fourth 
columns. As there are no numbers connected with these, nothing 
further is to be said about them. 

Pages 61 to 62 further contain four serpents. Above the fourth one 
the last date is repeated for the third time. Under each serpent there 
are two dates, which, with the exception of the first, are quite cor- 
rectly formed, according to my rule, although the second, in particular, 
may have suffered a change. I here introduce these eight dates, read 
from the right to the left : 

III 1: 16, 2d month. XIII 20; 1, 14th month. Ill 3; 14, 17th month. 
Ill 11; 7, 5th month. Ill 1; 12, 12th month. Ill 2; 13, 7th month. 
Ill 2; 13. 16th month. Ill 2; 18, 6th month. 

Instead of the 16 in the first date, I should like to read IT; the 
dates indicate the years T Muluc, 1 Kan, 9 Ix, 9 Muluc, T Ix, 2 Ix, 
4 Ix, and 4 Mulua The intervals of time are 2,TT9, 12,483, 13,988, 
13,650, 2,821, 10,400, and 14,040 days. I am most in doubt as to 
the first two and least so as to the last two. The last one, 14,040. 
as already remarked, is one of the most important dates in our manu- 





1,2112 M"^ 


XIII 20 


11, 1st month. 




(121) 


IV 17 


8, IStli month 




1,368,540 


XIII 20 


6, 18th month 




(17) 


IV 17 


8, 18th month 



406 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [boll. 28 

script. These dates and their intervals certainly have some connection 
with the numbers placed Avithin the serpents, but I do not yet venture 
to express an opinion in regard to them. 

Pages 62 and 63 contain, the former in the last two columns, the 
latter in the first two, a very fine and lucid combination of large 
numbers, of encircled numbers below them, and of dates. Although 
I have already considered the first, the numbers, I transcribe here the 
entire passage : 

1,272,921 

III 2; 13, 3d month. 

(456) 

IV 17; 8, 18th month. 

1,234,220 

III 2; 13, 14th month. 

(235) 

IV 17; 8, 18th month. 

I have allow^ed myself a slight conjecture in regard to the date 
at the top in the second group only. I read the manuscript's 15, 1st 
month ;11, 1st month, assuming that the writer made a line instead 
of a clot. As we consider the differences between the upper dates 
and the normal date that is set down below, it should be mentioned 
that the former indicate the years 4 Ix, 4 Ix, 5 Ix, and 7 Cauac, and 
the latter, as already observed, the year 9 Ix. The intervals are, 
therefore, as follow : 

44 years+295 clays=:16,355=62x260+2.35 days 

44 years+337 days=16,397=:63x260+ 17 days 

4 years+ 75 days=: 1,535^ 5x260+235 days 

15 years+ 2 days== 5,477^:21x260+ 17 days 

The days in excess of the multiples of 260 are, therefore, equal to 
the encircled numbers in the third and fourth groups. 

The explanation of these groups is written above them, unfor- 
tunately in characters as yet undeciphered. But there is such a small 
number of different signs among these twenty-eight, owing to the fre- 
quent repetition of some, that I think a complete comprehension wnll 
be achieved here, as well as on page 24, very soon, especially as 
several of the characters are among those most frequently used in 
the manuscript. 

In the third column of page .63 there is still to be regarded a doubt- 
ful date at the top, and a normal one at the bottom. 

Page 69 has the normal date in the middle of the two middle 
columns, but at the bottom the date IX 1 ; 12, 17th month, wdiich is re- 
peated at the top of the fifth and sixth columns. It is the same 
which we have already met with three times on pages 61 and 62. Fur- 
thermore, on the right, at the bottom, page 69 gives the days IV 9 
and IX 11, which are very important for the last pages of the manu- 



forstemann] 



THE DATES OF THE CALENDAR 407 



script. The month signs below them, with the numbers preceding, 
are unfortunately entirely obliterated. Since the fifth large serpent 
of the manuscript is here, a comparison with the dates under the 
serpents on pages 61 and 62 would be of great importance. 

Page 70 has the normal date no less than six times, in the middle 
and at the end of the first and second columns, as also, half obliter- 
ated, at the beginning of the third and fourth columns ; and, finally, at 
the end of the fourth column is the date, IX 11 ; 12, 1st month, which 
indicates the year 12 Kan; probably, the right-hand lower corner of 
page 69 is to be completed in accordance with this. In the middle of 
the page there seem to be four more dates ; the two upper ones must 
have been injured, and consequently I do not venture to affirm pos- 
itively that the two lower ones are to be read VIII 17 ; 13, 7th month 
(7 Muluc) and IV 9; 10, 15th month (2 Kan). 

Herewith the calendar dates of our manuscript, and with them my 
present task, come to a close. I have been obliged to express myself 
very briefly, and therefore require of the investigator who would 
closely follow mj^ exposition that he should be in a measure familiar 
with the previous results of Maya research. Still, I hope I have given 
an impulse to some one to push farther forward in this field. I might 
say a good deal more concerning this or that passage of the manu- 
script, but my present purpose has merely been to throw a clearer 
light on three important and frequently recurring features. I will 
only briefly remark that, in regard to the repetitions of the eighth 
day, Chuen, regularly bunched together, also found in other manu- 
scripts and always occurring in combinations of three on pages 25 to 
28, they undoubtedly designate the expiration of 24 (3X8) days of 
the last month, for these pages are concerned with the twenty-fourtK 
and twenty-fifth days (which belong properly to no month). 

On pages 42, 43, and 45, at the bottom, there are always six of these 
Chuen pictures, as an indication that six times eight days have 
elapsed, as is noted in the line above ; but only four of these six signs 
are to be seen on page 44, owing no doubt to want of space. 



PAGES 61 TO 64 AND 69 TO 73, DRESDEN CODEX « 

Introduction 

In 1887 I printed an essaj^ under the above title intended for pri- 
vate circulation, which was afterwards included, with a few correc- 
tions on pages 739 to 753, in the Compte rendu of the Congress of 
Americanists at Berlin. Since that time some facts have come to 
light in my special department, the mathematical side of the Maya 
manuscripts, a part of which I would make known in this way. For 
this purpose I select two of the latter sections of the Dresden manu- 
script (pages 61 to 64 and 69 to 73), which have this in common, that, 
proceeding b}^ arithmetic series, the}^ rise to numbers of great mag- 
nitude, the highest of which are set down in serpent pictures, in four 
in the first-named section and only in one in the second. The first 
section, beginning with page 64, the other beginning with page 73, 
must be read from right to left, consequently backward according to 
our view. It is true that even after this communication of mine 
numerous puzzles Avill remain unsolved; still, an intelligible connec- 
tion between the individual portions of these sections will certainly 
be seen. 

Before I come to the main question I will premise two remarks. 

First, I shall designate the week days in the usual manner by Ro- 
man numerals ; the days of the month, not hj their names, which are 
here unimportant, but by Arabic numerals, as, for instance, Kan 1, 
although, of course, I know that in Codex Troano-Cortesianus Imix 
1 is after the Aztec method. 

Secondly, among the numbers certain ones are of surpassing im- 
portance. It is well known that the most important of all is 260, the 
sacred tonalamatl, consisting of 20 weeks of 13 days each. Some 
smaller numbers rank next in importance, notably, 52, 65, 78, 91, and 
104 (=4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 weeks). Next to these come several multiples 
of 260, especially, 780, 1,040, and 1,820, which are divisible without a 
remainder by 78, 104, and 91 as well as by 260. I will specify fur- 
ther 3,640 (divisible by 91, 104, and 260) and 14,040 (divisible by 52, 
65, 78, and 260, likewise by 54, 702, and other numbers). Next fol- 

" Zur Entzifferung der Mayahandschriften, II, Dresden, January 25, 1891. 

409 



410 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

low the multiples of the year: the ahau (24 years of 365 days)=8,760 
days; the katun (52 years=18,980, also 73X260 days); the ahau 
katun (312 years=113,880=438X260 days, a week, as it were, of 
which each day is an ahau; and, finally, the period of 12 ahau 
katuns= 1,366,560 days, which number has the peculiarity of being 
divisible without remainder by 9, an important number in the Maya 
mythology. Even nine times this number, 108 ahau katuns, might 
be called an important period. 

But now to the main question. I must again express myself briefly, 
for otherwise the result would be a thick book, which would hardly 
get printed. With a little careful attention and the scantiest knowl- 
edge of the elements of ]\Iaya investigation, it will be possible to 
follow me. 

Pages 61 to 64 

METHOD OF TREATMENT 

This whole section is divided into four separate groups of numbers, 
which rise one above the other like the stories of a building. The 
object of the following description is to show the interconnection of 
these groups so far as it is at present discernible. 

THE SERIES OF NUMBERS 

■ Almost all the Maya series of numbers, which we have hitherto 
known only from the Dresden manuscript, have for their principal 
object the discovery of some common multiple for two or more num- 
bers. They begin at the zero point; but what is really the second 
term of the series is usually written down first, for this first consti- 
tutes an actual number. This number is the real fundamental dif- 
ference of the series, and the separate terms of the series usually in- 
crease by this number until a number is reached which is divisible, not 
merely by this fundamental difference, but also by 260. From this 
point onward the terms of the series usually increase by the new^ num- 
ber (used as a second difference), and still later they probably in- 
crease by a multiple of this second difference. 

The pages of the manuscript now under consideration have only 
one series, which occupies the whole of page 64 and the right half of 
page 63. I have already spoken of this on page 32 of my Erliiuter- 
ungen (Dresden, 1886). Its fundamental difference is 91, with which 
the series begins on page 64, on the right at the bottom; thence 
onward the series increases quite regularly (182, 273, 364, etc.) as far 
as 1,820, one of the important numbers mentioned above, which is a 
multiple both of 91 and 260; 1,820 is therefore the second difference, 
and with this difference the numbers progress on the upper edge of 
the page. This upper edge is unfortunately partially obliterated; 



fOestbmann] CORRECTION'S, OR ENCIRCLED NUMERALS 411 

yet from the part remaining that which is destroyed may be restored 
with tolerable certainty, as follows: 3,640, 5,460, 7,280 (so far with 
the difference 1,820), 14,560, 21,840, 29,120, 36,400 (so far with the 
difference 7,280=4X1,820), 72,800, 109,200, 145,600 (difference, 
36,400=20X1,820). Below this highest number (1,600X^1) stands, 
written very small in red, crow^led in between the figures of 1,820, 
a large number, the Maya numerals of which, read from the top 
dowuAvard, are 19, 0, 4, 4. I can understand this number only by 
substituting a 3 for the first 4; then it signifies 136,864=1,504X91. 
I intend to return to this number farther ou. 

The numbers in a series always relate to certain days, which are 
usually designated below, and which stand at the same distances from 
each other as the numbers. In our case, five days belong to each num- 
ber, which are specified as follows : 



364 


273 


182 


91 


III G 


III 15 


III 4 


III13 


5 


14 


3 


13 


15 


4 


13 


3 


7 


16 


5 


14 


XIII 4 


XIII 13 


XIII 2 


XIII 11 



and so on. T^Hienever a difference divisible by 260 is reached the 
same days recur invariably, to wit : 

III 2 
1 

11 
3 

XTII 20 

The three days in the middle should be regarded as having a III, 
like the upper one; but for the present we may leave them uncon- 
sidered, for only III 2 and XIII 20 are of immediate importance. 

Furthermore, these last-named five daj^s are, of course, the actual 
zero point from which the series progresses. With respect to the 
series see also Cyrus Thomas's Aids to the Study of the Maya Codices, 
Washington, 1888, page 327. 

THE CORRECTIONS, OR ENCIRCLED NUMERALS 

As I have shown in my treatise mentioned in the beginning, all the 
days are computed from IV 17 onward. Therefore, it is impossible 
that the above-named days, III 2 and XIII 20, should be either equal 
to zero or equal to a number divisible bj^ 260. Actually, the day IV 
17 is always meant here. The days under the numbers, therefore, are 
arbitrary and merely used provisionally to measure the distances 
between the numbers by the distances between the days. If one 
wculd find the number actually corresponding to a day, a correction 



412 BUREAU OF AMERICAlsr ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

by addition or subtraction should be made, and in the manuscript we 
find these corrections in the numbers which are encircled with red 
whenever the space permits. 

In our section we must consider the distance of the days III 2 and 
XIII 20 from the normal day IV 17, and also from the days IV 1, 
IV 18, IV 19, and VII 1. I do not yet know why these last four days 
were selected, but a close examination shows that the first three of 
them preceded the normal day IV 17 by 156, 39, and 78 days. These 
intervals have the ratio 4": 1 : 2, but this is merely incidental. 

From III 2 to IV 17 there are 235 days 
- From XIII 20 to IV 17 there are 17 days 
From III 2 to IV 18 there are 196 days 
From XIII 20 to IV 1 there are 121 days 
From III 2 to VII 1 there are 199 days 
From XIII 20 to IV 19 there are 199 days 

The last two intervals are the same, which doubtless has a hidden 
meaning. 

The effect is exactly the same whether we muke these corrections in 
the amounts given or in these increased by a number divisible by 260, 
since after 260 days the same days recur. Thus we actually find on 
pages 62 and 63 the numbers 235 and 121 inclosed in circles, but 
instead of 196 we find 456=260-|-196, and instead of 199 we have 
51,419=197X260-1-199. The last number is perfectly reliable, for 
it has already occurred in the same connection on page 31 of the 
manuscript. Instead of the 17, above which there is a quite incom- 
prehensible zero, I now read 537=2X260+17, the correctness of 
which I shall prove later on. 

The numbers to which these encircled numbers are added do not 
occur in the manuscript. I have given them in my earlier treatise 
and will omit them here. 

THE LARGE NUMBERS 

With regard to this subject I can also be brief, as it has already 
been discussed in my previous article. I refer to the numbers scat- 
tered throughout the manuscript, always lying between 1,200,000 and 
1,600,000, whose true mean and point of departure, unless we are 
wholly mistaken, lies in 12 ahau katuns 1,366,560 (page 24 of the 
manuscript) . Perhaps it may be an aid to their better comprehension 
if, in connection with the days belonging to them, I specify these num- 
bers somewhat more particularly by some of their properties. 

IV 17. 1, 2.34,220 = 4,747 X -00 =235X5,252x235 is the distance from III 
2 to IV 17. Tlie number is 132,340 less than 12 ahau katuns. 

IV 17. 1,268,540=4,879X2(50 = 17X74,620. 17 is the distance from 
XIII 20 to IV 17. The number is 08,020 less than 12 ahau katuns. 



fOesthmann] 



THE LARGE NUMBERS 413 



IV 1. 1,272,544=4,894X260+104=12,236X104=13,984X91. 104 is the 
distance from IV 17 to IV 1. The number is 94,016 (=904x104) less 
than 12 ahau katuns. 

IV 18. 1,272,921=4,895x260+221. 221 is the distance from IV 17 to 
IV 18. It is also equal to 32,639X39 ; and 39 is the distance from IV 18 to 
IV 17. The number is 93,639 (2,401X39) less than 12 ahau katuns 

VII 1. 1,535,004=5,903x260+224. 224 is the distance from IV 17 to 
VII 1. It is also equal to 42,639X36; and 36 is the distance from VII 1 
to IV 17. The number is 168,444 (4,679X36) greater than 12 ahau 
katuns. 

IV 19. 1,538,342=5,916X260+182. 182 is the distance from IV 17 to 
IV 19. It is also equal to 118,334X13. The distance from IV 19 to IV 17 
is 78=6X13. The number is 171,782 (13,214X13) greater than 12 ahau 
katuns. 

Here, indeed, remarkable results begin to be apparent through the 
veil which still shrouds the secret of the construction of these num- 
bers; but a relation which seems remarkable is not always really so, 
for it may often be only the mathematical result of some other rela- 
tion already known. I have often been greatly pleased with some 
result, until I perceived that it could not possibly have been other- 
wise. 

Under four of the six large numbers there are calendar dates, which 
I read correctly, it is true, in my former paper, but regarding the exact 
significance of which I have only now obtained a clear insight. They 
do not relate to the numbers actually written down in the manuscript, 
but to their diminution by the encircled numbers, that is, to the days 
III 2 and XIII 20. These diminished numbers are the following : 

III 2: 1,272,921-456=1,272,465 
XIII 20: 1,272,544-121=1,272,423 

III 2: 1,234,220-235=1,233,985 
XIII 20: 1,268,540-537=1,268,003 

Below these are the four dates : 

III 2 XIII 20 III 2 XIII 20 

13, 3d month 11, 1st month 13, 14th month 6, 18th month 

In my former paper I proved that my correction from 15 to 11 
in the second date is justifiable. The second number is 42 less 
than the first, and, in fact, the second date precedes the first by 42 
days, both being in the year 4 Ix. The fourth number is 34,018 
larger than the third, or, if we deduct a katun, 18,980 days, during 
which time every date is repeated, it is 15,038 larger; the fourth date 
(in the year 7 Cauac) , however, is distant from the third (in the year 
5 Ix) -41 years and 73 days, that is, again 15,038 days. This justifies 
my conjecture above, according to which I read 17+ (2X260)^=537, 
instead of the encircled number 17, especially as obliteration is evi- 
dent in the manuscript. 



414 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

Both differences, between the numbers and the days, are also proved 
correct by the fact that 218 days always elapse between III 2 and 
XIII 20:"^ but 42 is 260—218 and 15,038 is equal to 57X260+218. 

Thus we obtain a result satisfactory in every respect. 

THE NUMP^RALS IN THE SERPENTS 

While I have already discussed the main part of the foregoing sub- 
iects in a former paper, although in a different connection, I present 
the following for the first time to the knoAvledge of my fellow- workers 
in this field of research. 

As the crowning point of the entire numeric structure in question, 
we find on pages 61 and 62 four large serpents drawn in a vertical 
position, in the coils of which are placed black and red numerals. 
It was a long time before I became convinced that these numerals 
were not independent of each other, but constituted large numbers, 
and that the black numerals were to be regarded as placed at the 
left of the red ones, which is a matter of importance in what follows. 

I shall treat these numbers as progressing from the left to the 
rio-ht, although it is by no means certain that the opposite order 
should not be adopted. I will, then, designate the serpent on the left 
as 1, and the following ones as 2, 8, and 4, the black numbers by a, 
and the red ones by h. 

Now, the first question is, what numbers are to be considered in this 
place. I am gratified to be able to regard seven of these eight num- 
bers as entirely correct and requiring no conjecture. I shall have to 
alter only the number Ih, that is, the red one in the first serpent, for I 
assume that a line is wanting in the lowest numeral, and that 8 
should be read instead of 3, and that the black 1 standing farther 
below should also serve for the red number, which is written remark- 
ably large. Accordingly, the figures for these eight numbers are as 
follow : 

la lb 2a 2b 3a 35 4a 4b 



4 


4 


4 


4 


4 


4 


4 


4 


6 


6 


6 


6 


6 


6 


6 


6 


14 





9 


1 


7 


11 


9 


1 


13 


11 


16 


9 


12 


10 


15 


9 


15 


8 


10 


15 


4 


r- 
( 


12 


15 


1 


1 


1 





10 


2 


19 






The first thing to be noticed is the similarity of 26 and 4&, as also 
that 1 and 3 resemble each other in this respect that the most familiar 
deity in the manuscript is represented on the heads of these serpents, 
while on the heads of 2 and 4 there are two beasts. 



FOESTEMANN] THE NUMERALS IN THE SERPENTS 415 

Transl9.ted into European characters, the numbers are as follow: 

la 13,489,781 

16 12,388,121 

2a 12,454,761 

36 12,394,740 

3a 13,438,810 

36 12,466,942 

4a 12,454,459 

46 12,394,740 

We see that these large numbers are more nearly equal than 
the numbers in the preceding section. If I there considered the 
period of 12 ahau katuns as the true mean of the group, we might 
here, perhaps, regard nine times that period, that is, 108 ahau 
katuns = 12,299,040, as the point of departure for these numbers. 

Nor can it be accidental that Mdiile 25 and 45 are alike, the numbers 
2(2 and 4(2, belonging to them, have the very slight difference of 302 ; 
that is, 260+42. 42 is the space of time between XIII 20 and III 2. 

Nothing should be disregarded which may possibly throw light on 
the construction of the entire edifice. Perhaps some other number 
may represent the mean of these large numbers better than 108 ahau 
Icatuns. In discussing this series I observed that the number 136,864 
occurs on page 63. It is remarkable for its position, but still more 
so for its magnitude. For how comes 91X1,504 in a series which 
concludes with 91X800, 91X1,200, and 91X1,600? If we imagine 
this number again multiplied by 91, as the fundamental number of 
the whole, we obtain 12,454,624, the relation of which to the eight 
large numbers I leave the reader to consider. I make no assertions 
with regard to it. 

In my earlier paper I mentioned, further, that under each of the 
eight numbers there is a calendar date. I here give these dates, and 
at the same time add the j^ears in which they must occur : 

la III 2; 18, 6th month 4 Muluc 

16 III 3; 13, 16th month 4 Ix 

2a III 2; 13, 7th month 2 Ix 

26 III 1; 12, 12th month 7 Ix 

3a III 11; 7, 5th month 5 Mnluc 

36 III 3; 14, 17th month 9 Ix 

4a XIII 20; 1, 14th month 1 Kan 

46 III 1; 17, 2d month 7 Muluc 

Only the 17 in the last date is conjectural; the manuscript 
reads 16. 

We perceive at once that exactly the same days occur here which we 
saw above at the beginning and the end of the large series; that is, 
III 2, III 1, III 11, III 3, and XIII 20, of which HI 2 is used three 
times and III 1 twice. Hence we clearly have a connection of the 
dates with the series. 



416 BURE.IU OF AMERICAN ETPmOLOGY [bull. 28 

In order to show the close relation of the series to the eight num- 
bers we will now present the connection of the dates with the num- 
bers. The indication of this connection is irrefutable, although not 
clear at all points. With this object in view I will here set down the 
differences between each two adjacent numbers, and also those be- 
tween the dates appertaining to them : 

1 laandlb 101.660 III 2 and III 2 14,040 

2 15 and 2a 66,640 III 2 and III 2 8,580 

3 2a and 25 60,021 IIIl and III 2 2,821 

4 26 aid 3a 44,070 III 1 and III 11 5,380 

5 3aand3& 28,132 III 11 and III 3 4,993 

6 35 and 4a 12,483 XIII 20 and III 3 12,483 

7 4a and 46 59,719 III 1 and XIII 20 2.779 

The reason for introducing the two days in each line will imme- 
diately appear. I will now endeavor to make clear the connection 
between the two numbers in each line. 

1. Both the numbers are divisible by 260 without a remainder. 
The two days are alike. I mentioned in the beginning that the num- 
ber 14,040 was a very important one. 

2. In this case there is a seeming disagreement; for, although the 
days are again alike, the second number is 33X260 while the first is 
256X260+80; and yet this difference is quite necessary, as I shall 
hereafter show. 

3. Each of the numbers divided by 260 has a remainder of 221, and 
between the day III 1 and the next. III 2, there is always an interval 
of 221 days. 

4. Each of these numbers divided by 260 has a remainder of 130, 
and 130 is the distance between the days III 1 and III 11. 

5. The remainder of both these numbers is 52, which is the distance 
between III 11 and III 3. 

6. The two numbers are exactly alike. Divided by 260 they have 
the remainder 3, which is the distance between XIII 20 and III 3. 

T. Both numbers have the remainder 179, equal to the distance 
between III 1 and XIII 20. 

We now come to the question, What really are the zero points from 
which these large numbers are computed ? f oi- we already know that 
the zero point is by no means always the normal date IV IT ; 8, 18th 
month. I can not give here the multitude of figures necessary for 
this calculation, but must content myself with the results. They are 

as follow : 

la XII; 12, 14th month 1 Ix 

16 XI 1; 12, 15th month 7 Ix 

2a IX 1: 7, 14th month 4 Cauac 

26 IX 1; 2, 9th month 5 Kan 

3a IX1;12, 6th month 3 Ix 

36 IX 1; 12, 17th month 4 Ix 

4a IX 1; 12, 17th month 4 Ix 

46 .1X1; 12, 17th month 4 Ix 



FORSTEMANN] METHOD OF TEEATMEISTT 4l7 

Thus the eight zero points all fall on the first clay of the month 
Kan. The first tAvo week clays, however, are XT 1 and the six others 
IX 1. From IX 1 to XI 1 there are 80 clays, and thus the number 
80 is justified, as I promised above to prove; for in the elates writ- 
ten below belonging to 1?> and 'la the days are alike (in each case 
III 2). 

The six initial days IX 1 have different positions in the year in 2(2, 
2&, and 3«, and are, therefore, in different years ; but in 3^, 4«, and 4Z> 
they are exactly alike and are all in the year 4 IX. Hence the differ- 
ence in the numbers belonging to these three does not depend upon 
the beginning, but upon the end of the series. It is perhaps not 
accidental that the year at the beginning is 4 IX, which we have 
above seen occurring among the large numbers of the second rank. 

The date IX 1 ; 12, 17th month, found here three times by mere 
comj)utation, is undoubtedl}^ an extremely important one. Looking 
through the manuscript, we find it plainly written down on page 61 
below on the left, and then above in the middle, and again on page 
62 above in the middle. Should not this help to throw light on the 
hieroglyphs of which it always constitutes the end and aim? If 
the upper right-hand corner of page 61 were not entirely destroyed, 
and the left-hand one of page 62 nearly so, we should undoubtedly 
even now see more clearly here. 

I would especially urge upon the attention of the investigator the 
importance of finding out the significance of the symbol of the sixth 
month, Xul, eight times repeated with slight variations among the 
eight calendar dates at the bottom of these two pages. 

But I can not take leave of this section without remarking that it 
likewise occurs, like an abstract, in the upper third of pages 31 to 32. 
We find there also a series beginning with the day XIII 20. There 
also appears the difference 91 ; there also, the encircled numbers IT, 
121, and 51,419; and finally, also, the large numbers 1,272,544, 
1,268,540, and 1,538,342. As if here, too, something corresponding in 
a certain degree to the serpent numbers ought to be found, there are in 
this place the numbers 2,804,100=10,785X260=147 katuns+14,040, 
that remarkable number so often standing in the background; yet 
here, too, we have only a great riddle. 

Pages 69 to 73 

method of treatment 

In the following I shall arrange my observations in the same order 
as I have done in the preceding section. In this way it will be easily 
seen by comparison wherein the two sections resemble each other and 
wlierein tbey differ. 

7238— No. 2B— 05- 27 



418 BUREAU OF AMERICAK ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

THE SERIES OF NU:MBERS 

The first noticeable difference between the two sections is the fact 
that the former began with only one series and the present one is 
constrncted upon two series. 

On page 73 we find at the right the three numbers 14,040, T02, and 
54 written ver}^ large, one aboA^e the other. The first is twenty times 
the second, the second thirteen times the third; thus the whole repre- 
sents a kind of tonalamatl, each day of which is 54 days long. This 
may be looked upon as the superscription of the first series. 

At the beginning and the end of this series is the day IX 11, and 
as the fundamental difference 54. The series begins at the top of 
page 71 on the right, and extends toward the right as far as the 
middle of the upper third of page 73. The attendant days are not 
stated here, but only the numbers of the week days, which are usually 
red, but this time are blade encircled with red, and which conse- 
quently have here an unusual significance. Since 54 is equal to 
4X13_[_2, these numbers must always increase by 2. As I said 
before, we must suppose a IX with the zero ; then with 54 we shall 
read XI, with 108 XIII, with 162 II, and so on up to VII with 648. 
Hereupon follows that 702 on page 73, at the right, and below we read 
the IX belonging to it. This 702 forms the second fundamental 
difference of the series, although it is not divisible by 260. It is to 
be found on the second third of page 71 as the fifth number counted 
from the left, but it is incorrectly written, for two dots are wanting 
over the middle numeral, which must be 17 and not 15. The series, 
accompanied quite regularly by day signs and numbers, noAV in- 
creases by terms of 702, proceeding toward the left to page 70; thus, 
1,404, 2,106, 2,808, and so on. This line ends on the left with 4,914 ; 
then 5,616 follows in the next line above on page 71, followed by 
6,318 and 7,020. In this manner a number is reached which is 
divisible by 54, 20, and 13, therefore also by 260. Double this num- 
ber is the notable 14,040, which should stand here, but is omitted be- 
cause, as we see, it is already on page 73. This 14,040 now forms the 
third difference of the series (after the 54 and 702), the numbers in 
which must always be accompanied by the day IX 11. Thus we 
read in continuation 28,080, 42,120, 56,160, 70,200. At this point the 
series is continued in the uppermost line, which is unfortunately very 
much injured and the numbers of which we can only surmise. If the 
difference 14,040 remained unchanged, the last number would be 
168,480=12X14,040. Compare the description of this and of the 
following series in the admirable work of Cyrus Thomas, Aids to the 
Study of the Maya Codices, Washington, 1888, page 331. 

At the beginning and the end of the second series is the day IV 9, 
and the fundamental difference is 65; that is, a quarter of 260. This 



FOKSTE.MANN] CORRECTIONS, OR ENCIRCLED NUMERALS 419 

series begins in the second third of page 73, on the right, with 65=IV 
14, increases toward the left by terms of 65 to 910= IV 19, then con- 
tinues at the bottom of page 73^ on the right, with 975=IV 4, and 
again continues to increase toward the left by terms of only 65 until, 
on page 71, 1,820= IV 9 is reached, which is divisible by 260 (as were 
various previous numbers) . This 1,820 constitutes the second differ- 
ence for the next two numbers, 3,640 and 5,460. The 7,280 which vv^e 
should then expect is wanting, but just this is the third difference for 
what follows. The line ends on page 70 with 43,680=6X7,280, but 
continues a line higher on page 71 with 50,960=7X^^,280, and now 
continues to increase toward the left to 9, 10, 13, 15 times 7,280, where- 
upon the 8 times 7,280 (58,240), omitted on page 71, is here inserted, 
for I read here 8, 1, 14, 0, instead of 8, 1, 10, 0. 

To these highest numbers of the series is added a number consist- 
ing of the numerals 1, 0, 12, 3, which are quite inexplicable at pres- 
ent, for there is nothing to be done with 7,443. Yet, I would call 
attention to the fact that it stands exactly in the place where in th^. 
preceding section we found the at first equally inexplicable 136,864. 
As in the preceding section, we shall revert to this number later. 

Thus we have two series in this section, but each relates only to one 
day. The previous section gave us but one series, which, however, had 
reference to two days. What was there 91, III 2 and XIII 20, is 
here 54, IX 11, and 65, IV 9. 

THE CORRECTIONS, OR ENCIRCLED NUMERALS 

"Wliile the former section presented five such numbers, the present 
one contains no fewer than eight. Of these, however, only the four 
lower ones actually have the rings, while the four higher ones are 
without them. They are as follow : 

1. On page 70, on the left, 606=2X260+86; above this is IX 11; 
86 is the distance from IX 11 to the normal date IV 17. 

2. To the right of this number is 1,646=6X260+86; above it 
again is IX 11 ; this refers to the same interval. 

3. Below the first number is only 86; over this again is IX 11, 
referring again to the same distance. 

4. Below the second number is 208; over this is IV 9. The 208 
denotes actually the distance from IV 9 to IV 17. 

5. On the same page in the fourth column, in black figures, is 
111,554=429X260+14; above, in the third column, is X 17, but 
over the X is an VIII, like a correction. I read them VIII 17. The 
above-mentioned 14, however, denotes the distance from VIII 17 to 
IX 11, the initial day of the first series. 

6. Written between in red is 101,812 (for I read 14 instead of 16) = 
391X260+152. This 152 is the distance from VIII 17 to IV 9, 
the starting point of the second series. 



420 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY . [bull. 2» 

7. At a considerable distance from this, at the top of page 73, we 
find the number 83,474=(321X260) +14- and below it IX 11. Thus it 
is again intended to indicate the distance from VIII 17 to IX 11. 

8. At the right of this is 34,732= (133X260) +152. Underneath is 
IX 9, doubtless to be read IV 9, indicating the distance from VIII 17 
to IV 9. 

Since the multiples of 260 are always indifferent in certain re- 
spects, we are really concerned Avitli only four of these corrected 
numbers — 86, 208, 14, and 152 ; that is, with the four intervals IX 11 
to IV 17, IV 9 to IV 17, VIII 17 to IX 11, and VIII 17 to IV 9. The 
starting points of the two series, IX 11 and IV 9, are brought into rela- 
tion only with the normal date IV 17 and with the still enigmatic VIII 
17. I would also remark, with regard to the position of this VIII 17, 
that it is distant 100 days from a succeeding, consequently 160 days 
from a preceding, IV 17, that it therefore divides the tonalamatl 
into two parts, having the ratio of 5 to 8. 

THE LARGE NUMBERS 

As in the preceding section, there are exactly six of these, all on 
page 70. I will consider them here in the same manner as in that 

section. 

1. IV 17. 1,201,200=4,620X260, wliicli is 165,360 less than 12 aliau 

katuns. 

2. IV 17. 1,202,240=4,624X260=208X5,780. 208 is the distance from 
IV 9 to IV 17; 164,320=208X790, being less than 12 ahau katnns. 

3. IV 17. 1,394,120=:5,362X260, which is 27,560 more than 12 ahau 
katuns. 

It may not be accidental that the first and third numbers are both divis- 
ible by 14, which is the distance from VIII 17 to IX 11. 

4. IV 17. 1,437,020=5,527X260, or 70,460 more than 12 ahau katuns. 

5. IV 11. 1,520,654=5,848x260+174. 174 is the distance from IV 17 
to IX 11. This number is 154,094 more than 12 ahau katuns. 

6. IV 9. 1,567,332=6,028x260+52. 52 is the distance from IV 17 to 
IV 9. This number is 200,772 more than 12 ahau katuns. 

These numbers may still bear relations to each other which I have 
not yet discovered. 

We now know that from these numbers the corrections, or encircled 
numbers, are to be subtracted from all six numbers, indeed, eight — 
that is, two each of the latter from two of the former. Thence 
result the following eight equations, to which I attach the corre- 
sponding days : 

1. 1,201,200 (IV 17)- 86=1,201,114 (IX 11) 

2. 1,202,240 (IV IT)- 208=1,202,032 (IV 9) 

3. 1,394,120 (IV 17)- 606=1,393,514 (IX 11) 

4. 1,437,020 (IV 17) ~ 1,646=1,435,374 (IX 11) 

5. 1,520,654 (IX 11) -111,554=1,409,100 (VIII 17) 

6. 1,520,654 (IX 11)- 83,474=1,437,180 (VIII 17) 

7. 1,567.332 (IV 9) -101,812=1,465,520 (VIII 17) 

8. 1,567,332 (IV 9)- 34,732=1,534,600 (VIII 17) 



forstemann] 



THE NUMERALS IN THE SERPENTS 



421 



I should like to call attention here to a singular circumstance in 
connection with the last four subtrahends, which extends to the last 
four remainders, and is evidently so intended. This is 111,554 — ■ 
101,812=:9,742, an apparently quite unimportant number, which, far- 
ther on, we shall see recurring in a very remarkable position. Fur- 
ther, 83,474—34,732=48,742, is again an apparently unimportant 
number ; but it is surprising to observe that 48,742 — 9,742 is exactly 
39,000 = 150 tonalamatl. Furthermore, 111,554 — 83,474 = 28,080, 
that is, twice that remarkable 14,040; and 101,812 — 34,732 = 67,080 
r=258 tonalamatl. If these circumstances have no other immediate 
result, they at least prove the correctness of the numbers. 

I should also like to state here how I have calculated the days 
mentioned in the last eight equations according to their position, 
but I shall willingly accept corrections if I have erred : 



IV 17; 13, 17th month 11 Muhxc 

IV 17; 18, 14th month 1 Kan 

IV 17; 8, 9th month 7 Ix 

IV 17; 23, 18th month 7 Cauac 

IX 11; 7, 3d month 3 Multic 

IX 11; 7, 3d month 3 Muluc 

IV 9; 5, 1st month 1 Muhic 

IV 9; 5, 1st month 1 Multic 



IX 11; 7, 13th month 11 Muluc 

IV 9; 10, 4th month 1 Kan 

IX 11; 13, 15th month 5 Kan 

IX 11; 17, 9th month 3 Catiac 

VIII 17; 3, 10th month 9 Cauac 

VIII 17; 18, 8th month 8 Kan 

VIII 17; 8, 2d month 8 Ix 

VIII 17; 13, 16th month 9 Muluc 



All the numbers and dates are, of course, computed from the nor- 
mal date, IV 17, 8, 18th month. 

In the previous section I was able at this point to indicate some 
calendar dates occurring in the manuscript which were related to 
the remainders, but it is not possible to do so in this section. It is 
true, some calendar dates seem to occur on page 70, in the middle of 
the third and fourth columns, but it is uncertain whether they agree 
with these remainders. At the most 13, 16th month, strikes one as 
agreeing with the dates I have given above. 

THE NUMERALS IN THE SERPENT 

In the previous section there were four serpents, but in the present 
only one. We will consider the two numbers in this serpent with 
respect to their size, their difference, point of departure, termination, 
and relation to the other portions of this section. The Maya numerals 
and the resulting numbers are as follows : 
Black 



4 


Red 


4 


5 




6 


19 




1 


13 







13 




18 


8 




10 



13,381,728 12,391,470 

Both numbers are quite reliable. We need only mention that the 1 
in the red number is hardly visible. 



422 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

At the first glance we see that they have almost the same magni- 
tude as the eight numbers in the four preceding serpents. The black 
number is somewhat less than any of the eight numbers, the red some- 
what larger than the smallest among them. 

The difference between them is 9, 742:= 37X260+ 122; and 122 is 
exactly the difference between the day IV 9 and the day IX 11, which 
in itself proves the connection of these numbers with the series pre- 
viously c'onsidered. But we found before exactly the same difference 
between the two encircled numbers, 111,554 and 101,812, to which, 
therefore, the numbers in the serpent must likewise be closely related. 

Above, at the conclusion of my discussion of the series, I mentioned 
the figures 1, 0, 12, and 3 at the end of the series on page 70, which 
would amount to 7,443, and could not, therefore, be explained. But 
they are close to the numbers 111,554 and 101,812 just mentioned. 
The inference seems natural, therefore, that they may be the differ- 
ence between these latter numbers, which is our 9,742. In that case 
we should be obliged to substitute 1, 7, 1, 2, in the place of the above- 
named figures, and that would be too great an alteration. Who can 
make a better suggestion? The 0, standing below the number, is 
almost entirely obliterated, and surely was only an error on the part 
of the writer, and is therefore not to be regarded. 

I The starting point of the numbers in the serpent, moreover, is of 
special interest. We see the same date, IX 1 ; 12, I7th month, as in 
the serpents of the previous section, and here we stand on safe ground. 

Now, if we compute the black number from this point, after 652 
katuns, 18 years and 198 days, we arrive at the date IV 9; 5, 9th 
month (10 Muluc), and on page 69, under the serpent, we actually 
find it. In the same way, for the red numbers we have 652 katuns, 
45 years and 85 days=XI 11; 12, 3d month (11 Kan), which again 
finds triumphant confirmation in the manuscript. 

If the numbers in the serpent were to be computed from the pre- 
ceding regular date, IV 17 ; 8, 18th month, and not from IX 1 ; 12, 
17th month, it would then be necessary to add 2,904 days to each. 
Then we should obtain for the true day IV 9 the number 12,384,632 
and for the true day IX 11 the number 12,394,374. 

I think I have shoAvn in this loajoer the inner connection between 
these two sections. The interpretation of the rest of the hieroglyphs 
must be achieved before a perfect comprehension can be reached ; 
but this, I think, can not be far distant with regard to these two sec- 
tions. My present communication, I think, has supplemented and 
brought to a certain degree of completeness my investigations regard- 
ing the mathematical aspects of the Dresden codex. Mathematics 
has rightl}^ been called jDetrified music. We hear the music in this 
case from so great a distance that, though we perceive the full har- 
monic chords, Ave do not recognize the connecting and animating 
melody. 



TORTOISE AND SNAIL IN MAYA LITERATURE - 

It is a well-known fact that at the time when the days and nights 
are of equal lenoth the sun rises directly in the east and sets in the 
west. While the length of the days increases these phenomena occur 
farther to the north and as it decreases farther to the south. At the 
periods of the longest and of the shortest day an apparent standstill 
(solstice) takes place in this movement, after which it is reversed. 

The Mayas of Yucatan, Chiapas, and Guatemala, who had attamed 
high culture of a certain kind, seem, if all signs do not deceive us, to 
have denoted this standstill in their hieroglyphs and the accompany- 
ing pictures by the two creatures who are slowest in their movements, 
the tortoise and the snail. To men who observe from a purely 
natural point of view, the two are nearly akin to one another, both by 
their slowness and by being encased in a shell. The summer solstice, 
the time of the sun's greatest heat, was assigned to the tortoise, as the 
larger animal, and the winter solstice to the snail. 

We will first consider the tortoise and the summer solstice. As the 
Maya year begins on the 16th of July and contains 18 months of 20 
days each, besides 5 intercalary days, the summer solstice occurs 
in the seventeenth month, known as Kayab. If we look at the hiero- 
glyph of this month we find, as Doctor Schellhas was the first to 
recognize, onlv the head of a tortoise with the sign of the sun (kin) 
in ptace of an eye (see «, 5, c, figure 103, from Biologia Centrali- 
Americana-Archa^ology, part 8, pages 18 and 72, and part 10, plate 
77, page 17). In this way it frequently appears in the Dresden 
manuscript, so that no reference is necessary. In this manuscript 
the center of page 40 is especially noteworthy. There we find by the 
hieroglyph a picture representing a human form with a tortoise's 
head. In each hand this personage holds a torch, one pointing 
upAvard and the other downward, a fit symbol for the waxing and 
then waning days. Above the picture are two astronomic signs, one 
of which doubtless represents the sun. Before the hieroglyph is the 
numeral 4. It may be merely accidental that the fourth day of the 
week of thirteen days is also noted below (see d). In the Dresden 
codex, page 39a, the lightning beast also carries two torches, one point- 
ing up and the other down (see e) . The tortoise is especially frequent 
in that part of the Madrid Troano codex, long since separated from it, 
which is now commonly called Codex Cortesianus. It does not 

« Schild Krote und Schnecke in dei- Mayaliteratur, Dresden, June 21, 1892. 

423 



424 



BUREAU OF AMERICAISr ETHNOLOGY 



[bull. 28 



occur in the technical and economic divisions of the manuscript, but 
only in the astronomic and calendric part, on pages 1 to 19 and 31 to 
42, and only toward the end of these two divisions. The passages 
are the following: 

Page 13a, wdiere the hieroglyphs belonging to it are effaced. 

Page ITa, Avhere, with the picture of the tortoise, its hieroglyph 
appears at least four times (see /). 





%m^^////<^f:f^^/y-//^^'^^//^^^^ 







- HJ/ 







o. •« 
• ■•••:0-' ' 


1 


II 






e f d 

Fig. 103. Glyphs of the month Kayab and turtle figures, from Maya codices and inscriptions. 

Page 17b, among a series of day signs. To the right of it a frog is 
represented ; to the left, astronomic signs and the sun ; between them, 
a crouching (praying?) human figure with outstretched hands. 

Page 19b, where we find it surrounded by three deities — a black 
one, a second with the mouth painted black, and a white one. All 
three hold parts of a rope or of a serpent (the course of the j^ear?), 
whose upper part rises above the tortoise. The hieroglyph of the latter 
is close to it, both above and below. Nor must we omit to mention 
that the sign yax (strength) occurs on the back of the tortoise. 



roKSTEMANN] TORTOISE AND SNAIL IN MAYA LITERATURE 



425 



Page 36b, where, beside the tortoise, is a person with closed eyes 
(dead). The hieroglyph for the tortoise is lacking here. 

Page 37a, on the upper portion of Avhich there are three astronomic 
signs: below, the sun repeated, from which rain streams down or, 




a 

mi 






Fig. 104. Glyphs and figures from the Maya codices. 

perhaps more likely, rays shoot down upon the earth, here repre- 
sented by the threefold sign cauac; at the very bottom, the tor- 
toise itself. Here, too, the hieroglyph is missing (see a, figure 104). 
Page 38b, where, lastly, we see a bird in what looks like an heraldic 



426 BUREAU OF AMEEICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

drawing, which bears the representation of the tortoise back as a 
breastplate. Here, too, the hieroglyph is missing. 

Although I have said that the hieroglyph is missing in the last 
three instances, yet I must state that in all tliree passages, as well as 
in many others, among the hieroglyphs occurs the one which de- 
notes the official year of 360 days, and to this is appended a sort of 
latticework, which may have been evolved from the drawing of the 
tortoise's back. 

In the Troano codex itself I find the tortoise represented but twice 
(pages 25*c and 32*c). The appropriate hieroglyphs occur in these 
passages, but in others in a form easily to be confoiuided with a simi- 
larly shaped bird's head (pages 2b, 31c, 32b, 19*c). So, too, in 
Codex Cortesianus, page 33a, a deity carries under his arm an animal 
which may be equally well taken for a bird or a tortoise. The hiero- 
glyph is above it. The passage in the Troano codex, page 25*c, is 
particularly important. Here, an animal (jaguar?) sits on the tor- 
toise, and to the right and left are two human figures, whose heads are 
surrounded by rays. In the hieroglyphs above we see the four car- 
dinal points, and below the sign of the tortoise repeated. 

Two days in the tortoise month, Kayab, are of special importance. 
The first is the twelfth day (see &, figure 104, from the Dresden codex, 
page 62), corresponding to our 13th of June, which was perhaps re- 
garded by the Maya as the beginning of the solstice. It is the actual 
point of departure of the enormous periods which are represented in 
the coils of the serpent on pages 61, 62, and 69 of the Dresden manu- 
script, which at once becomes apparent when we examine the various 
passages in which occur the hieroglyphs belonging to it. The second 
is the eighteenth day, set down l^elow on the left of page 24 of the 
Dresden manuscript (c, figure 104) , coinciding with the day I Ahau in 
the year 3 Kan. Eegarding it Ave find written there that it precedes the 
regular normal date, the usual beginning of the Maya system of com- 
puting time (IV Ahau; 8, 18th month), by 2,200 days. It is a very 
remarkable fact that in the well-known inscription on the Cross of 
Palenque, at the end of the first two and at the beginning of the third 
and fourth columns, these identical tw^o days are given, having the 
same position in the year and the same interval of time (8 tonalamatl 
and 6 months) between them. 

Therefore, either the state of civilization was about the same 
throughout the whole Maya area or the Dresden manuscript must 
have been produced not far from Palenque. In favor of this 
theory is the circumstance that the drawings in this manuscript un- 
doubtedly resemble the reliefs of Palenque, but differ strikingly from 
those of the more northern regions. This eighteenth day of the 
month Kayab corresponds to our 19th of June. It seems, therefore. 



FOESTEMANN] TORTOISE AND SNAIL IN MAYA LITERATURE 427 

to have been regarded by the Mayas as the true middle of the sol- 
stice, as the longest day. 

It will be a slight digression if, at this point, I glance at the 
eighteenth month Cumku, immediately succeeding Kayab, which is 
certainly the hottest one of the year. To Stephens's book, Incidents 
of Travel in Yucatan (London, 1843), is appended a treatise on the 
Maya calendar by Perez, a man living in Yucatan, and there we find 
the statement that cumku means thunderclap. The hieroglyph of 
the month agrees with this, for in it we see two flashes of lightning 
(or hot sunbeams?) darting down from the same point upon the 
maize field (kan). In the above-mentioned passage of the Dresden 
codex, page 40, the lightning beast as it rushes down from heaven 
follows directly after the person with the tortoise's head and the two 
torches (see d). In this month the eighth day, the normal date 
already mentioned, is the most important of all. Are we to infer 
from this that the Maya chronology dates from the day of the sun's 
greatest heat, the day in which the sun has the greatest power? 
(See e.) 

Not only in the manuscripts does the tortoise occur, but also on the 
stone monuments of the Mayas. At least, I read of its discovery in 
Copan in Stephens's Incidents of Travel in Central America, volume 
1 (New York, 1842), page 155: "The altar is buried with the top 
barely visible, Avhich, by excavating, we made out to represent the 
back of a tortoise ". 

The tortoise seldom occurs in Aztec monuments, but, my attention 
having been drawn to it by Mrs Nuttall, I can prove that it occurs 
at least in the Vienna manuscript in Kingsborough, volume 2, ap- 
parently in a calendric context. 

I will also mention an Aztec stone calendar excavated in 1790, 
which is represented under the erroneous title of " El Zodiaco ", in 
Nebel's Voyage dans la partie la plus interessante du Mexique (Paris, 
1836, folio). Here we find two tortoise heads, one on either side of 
the central picture, representing the sun. 

We may also note that in the Old World the crab (among the con- 
stellations and correspondingly in the Tropic of Cancer) is used in- 
stead of the tortoise, it being also a slow-paced creature encased in a 
shell and the symbol of retrogression at the same time. 

I have ventured, in the second place, although not so confidently as 
in the case of the tortoise, to connect the snail with the winter solstice. 
This occurs in the month Mol, the eighth of the Maya year. In this 
month the death, relatively speaking, and also the nev/ birth of the 
sun, takes place. We must therefore endeavor to seek the relations of 
the snail to birth, to death, to the sun, and, if possible, to the month 
Mol. 

It is already known to science, and widely acknowledged, that the 



428 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



[bull. 28 



snail is the symbol of birth among Central American people, and a 
very appropriate one. Doctor Seler accepts this view in the Compte 
rendu of the Seventh Congress of Americanists (Berlin, 1890), 
pages 580 and following, where he also proves from Aztec manuscripts 
the manifold relations of the whelk, the sea snail, to the deities of 
death, besides whom the sun god also usually appears. Doctor Seler 
has already discussed these relations in his essay " Der Charakter der 
Aztekischen unci Maya handschriften ". 



4 

G 






d 








Fig. 105. Glyphs of animals and month Mol, from Maya codices. 

If we now turn to the Dresden Maya manuscript we find the connec- 
tion of the snail with the deities of death here plainly indicated. It 
appears here on the head of the true death god at least five times 
(pages 9c, 12b, 13b, 14a, and 23c) . It also occurs elsewhere. The god 
D (following Doctor Scliellhas's designations, which I hope will be 
generally adopted) has the sn«il on his head, page 5c. This god, with 
the face of an old man, occurs here between two pictures of the death 
god. On page 9a we see him, again with the snail, between a vulture 
and a woman with bandaged eyes («, figure 105). 



fOestemaxn] tortoise AND SNAIL IN MAYA LITERATURE 429 

The sea snail appears very curiously on page 3Tb. Here it lies in 
the water and appears to be in the act of giving birth to a tiny per- 
son (female?). 

I can not discover a genuine hieroglyph of the snail in all these 
passages. Doctor Schellhas expresses the opinion, which is worthy 
of consideration, that the very frequent hieroglyph in which the day 
sign Oc is combined with the numeral 3 is connected with the snail, 
and that the suffix attached to this sign strongly suggests the snail and 
the foot on which it creeps (5, figure 105, from the Dresden codex, 
page 43c) . 

Still another passage, perhaps of special importance, remains to 
be discussed. I refer to pages lOc to lie of the Dresden manuscript. 
Here we find twenty-four hieroglyphs in two rows, six groups of four 
each, but each group begins here with the sign of the above-mentioned 
month Mol, which is the case nowhere else. But to these six Mols 
belong six pictures of gods, namely, A, D, F, E, G, and B. 

The series begins with the death god A ; then comes D with the 
face of an old man (according to Doctor Schellhas the god of birth 
and of the moon) ; then F, who, as Doctor Schellhas shows, is in a 
way a second death god. Next comes the grain god, E, bearing on his 
head the snail, together Avith the ears of maize; then the sun god; 
lastly the deity who is the most important one in this manuscript. 
The snail, therefore, occurs here among the gods of birth, of death, 
and of the sun in a section in which the month Mol seems to be of 
chief importance. 

The question now arises whether the sign for the month Mol is in 
any way connected with birth or death or Avith the sun or the snail. 
The sign consists of Iavo parallel lines of dots, forming an ellipse. In 
the lower part of this ellipse is a small circle, whose center is indi- 
cated, and to the upper part of which two little hooks or loops are 
attached. In almost the same way in Avhich it occurs m the manu- 
scripts the sign Mol occurs in the inscriptions, which in every other 
respect differ so Avidely from the manuscripts. Unfortunately, there 
is no convincing theory to explain this figure, although there are three 
possible ones. In the first place, the ellipse might stand for the snail 
shell, and that which is drawn within it may be a cursive indication 
of a snail ; in the second place, we might regard it as an egg and its 
yolk as an emblem of birth, and, thirdly, it would be possible to regard 
it as the imprisoned, and hence powerless, sun. A^Tio shall decide be- 
tween these possibilities ? The second is supported by the fact that Mr 
Dieseldorff writes me from Coban, in Guatemala, that in the language 
of that part of the country (the Kekchi) Mol means egg. I can not 
find the snail in Codex Troano-Cortesianus, but this may be due to 
the hasty and rude drawing of that manuscript. I am prepared 
to deny positively that it does occur. 



430 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

Of course, the two solstices have not the great significance in Yuca- ' 
tan which, with their extreme alternations of light and temperature, 
they possess in the higher latitudes; yet by the alternations of dry 
and wet. seasons, by the varying length of the days, which differ by 
two hours, and by the higher or lower position of the sun, as well as 
by the deviation in the point of the sun's rising and setting, they are 
sufficiently noticeable not to be passed over in silence in the ancient 
literature of a race so mathematically endowed as the Maya. 

We know from the Maya manuscripts that four animals — deer, 
bird, lizard, and fish — were frequently placed in combination with the 
four cardinal points. To these must now be added, if my hypothe- 
sis be correct, the tortoise as the representative of the northwest and 
northeast and the snail as the representative of the southwest and 
southeast. In Codex Cortesianus, pages 31a and 32a, the four ani- 
mals appear, and immediately after them (page 33a) the tortoise. 
On the so-called title page that has been much discussed, which con- 
nects the Troano codex with Codex Cortesianus, to the days from Imix 
to Kan, from Manik to Oc, and, lastly, Ben are assigned the four 
cardinal points, while Chicchan and Cimi, as well as Chuen and Eb, 
each have two unfamiliar signs, not the same both times, but different 
ones, making four signs in all. Can these be the intermediate points? 
Cimi, like death, would, as we have seen, be very appropriate to the 
snail, while the sign for Chicchan in Codex Troano-Cortesianus (not 
usually in the Dresden) has that latticework which, above, I have 
already connected with the tortoise. On the other hand, the relation 
of Chicchan to the serpent's skin can not be denied. Moreover, I am 
aware that the direction up and down is supposed to be indicated by 
those two signs introduced between the cardinal points, a theory 
which accords in so far with my hypothesis as these hieroglyphs 
denoto the highest and the lowest position of the sun. 



PAGE 24 OF THE DRESDEN MAYA MANUSCRIPT'^ 

Introduction 

The Dresden Maya manuscript has thus far been published three 
times, first hj Lord Kingsborough in his Mexican Antiquities (vol- 
ume 3) and twice, with different introductions, by me (Leipzig, 1880. 
and Dresden, 1892). 

It consists, as I explained in my first, edition, of two wholly dis- 
tinct parts. The first, consisting of 48 pages, contains on one side 
pages 1 to 24 and on the other pages 25 to 45 and three blank pages ; 
the second, consisting of 30 pages, contains on one side pages 46 to 60, 
on the other pages 61 to 74 and one blank page. 

Pae-e 24, the one to be here discussed, with which the front of the 
first part ends, is perhaps the most important in the entire manu- 
script, for one entire side of the second part (46 to 60) is merely 
a further exposition of the contents of page 24. 

The only difference is that page 24 is confined to astronomic obser- 
vations, while pages 46 to 60 bring the astronomic and the myth- 
ologic more into connection. 

The astronomic problem on page 24 is to connect certain given 
periods of time by common multiples. These periods of time are as 
follow : 

1. The sacred tonalamatl of 260 days, consisting of 20 weeks of 
13 days each. 

2. The old official solar year of 360 days, or eighteen periods of 20 
days each. 

3. The true solar year of 365 days. 

4. The apparent revolution of Mercury of 115 days. 

5. The apparent revolution of Venus of 584 days. 

6. Possibly, the apparent revolution of Mars of 780 days. 

7. The revolution of the moon of between 29 and 30 days, which in 
the calendar, however, was computed at but 28 days. Thirteen of 
these month periods of 28 days made up a year of 364 days. 

8. Possibly, the very ancient period, which was also Aztec, of the 
9 days or nights (sehores de la noche). 

Before we consider more closely in what manner and how far this 



"Zur Entzifferung der Mayabandschrifteii, IV, Dresden, June 11, 1S94. 

431 



432 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



[bull. 28 



page solves the problem mentioned above I will give a sort of copy 
of it: 



1 17 


29 151,840 


113,880 


75,920 


37,960 


2 18 


30 I Ahau 


I Ahau 


I Ahau 


I Ahau 


3 19 


31 








4 20 


32 1 85,: JO 


68,900 


33,280 


9,100 


5 21 


33 I AhaTi 


I Ahau 


I Ahau 


I Ahau 


6 22 


34 








7 23 


35 








8 24 


36 35,040 


32,120 


29,200 


26,280 


9 25 


37 VI Ahau 


XI Ahau 


III Ahau 


VIII Ahai 


10 26 


38 








11 27 


39 








12 28 


40 








13 


23,360 


20,440 


17,520 


14,600 


14 


XIII Ahau 


VAhau 


X Ahaii 


II Ahau 


15 










16 










(2200) 1,366,560 1,364,360 


11,680 


8,760 


5,840 


IV Ahati I Allan I Ahan 


VII Ahau XII Ahau IV Aha 


8Ciimku ISKayab 18 Zip 









2,920 
IX Ahau 



In connection with this I would make the following observations: 

1. While the copy shows large vacant spaces, the original, like all 
the sheets of the manuscript, is wholly wdthout vacant spaces, since 
the Maya numerals occupy far more room than the European. 

2. The numerals 1 to 40 in the three left-hand columns represent 
forty different hieroglyphs. All the rest of the space is taken up 
with numbers, twenty-three day signs (always the same, Ahau) and 
three month signs (on the left below, Cumku, Kayab, Zip). 

3. This page, like most of the pages of the manuscript, is imperfect 
at the top, only detached portions of the hieroglyphs 1 to 3, 17, and 29, 
as well as of the four topmost numbers (which I have restored by 
conjecture), being left. Were it not for this ever-recurring loss of 
important passages our knowledge of Maya would be far more ad- 
vanced than it is. 

4. I have ventured to correct two clerical errors in my transcrip- 
tion. In the first place, the date of the month 18 Zip, where the writer 
has set down 18 Uo, that is, the second instead of the third period, 
the characters for the two being very similar; secondly, the IX in 
IX Ahau in the lower right-hand corner, where the manuscript reads 
VIII, because a dot coincides with the red border below. 

I shall first consider the numbers and the month and day signs ap- 
pertaining to them, and I shall then try as far as possible to explain 
the forty hieroglyphs on the left. The author of the manuscript 
doubtless wrote these hieroglyphs in order to make the numbers more 
intelligible, while we, on the contrary, are compelled to penetrate the 



foestemann] 



THE NUMBERS 433 



dark region of the hieroglyphs from the assured standpoint of the 
numbers. 

The Numbers 

To facilitate the comprehension of what follows, I give here the 

following table : 

115 260 3G0 365 584 780 

2,920 8 5 

11,960 104 46 

14,040 54 39 18 

18,980 73 52 

37,960 146 104 65 

The figures on the left denote five especially important periods of 
time; the upper row gives six of the periods mentioned in the fore- 
going section ; the rest indicate the quotients resulting from the divi- 
sion of the former by the latter. 

I will also call attention to the proportion : 
11,960 : 37,960 : : 115 : : 23 : 73. 

We begin by considering the four columns on the right and pro- 
ceed from below upward and in each line from right to left. 

We first encounter a progression of twelve terms, the first term 
being 2,920, the difference being also 2,920, and the last term there- 
fore being 35,040=12X2,920. Now, 2,920 denotes eight times the 
solar year (8X365) or five times the Venus year (5X584). 

These twelve figures are all accompanied by the days pertaining to 
them, between which there is naturally the same difference as between 
the numbers. But the period of 2,920 days is equal to 11 tonalamatl 
(11X260) and 60 days. Now, 60=4X13+8; the numbers preceding 
the day signs, indicating the position in the week of 13 days, must, 
therefore, be constantly set forward by eight. 

Furthermore, 60=^3X20; therefore, the same day will always 
appear in the series of 20 days after an interval of 2,920 days. And 
for this day, the most important one is chosen, the one most frequently 
used, the final point, and, as we may say, the apex of a series begin- 
ning with the day Imix, the day Ahau, which seems to be sacred 
to tiie sun god, the Kin-ich-ahau (" lord of the day's eye ") , just as the 
same day in Kekchi and Cakchikel is named after the god Hunahpu. 

The actual zero point from which all the series in the Maya manu- 
scripts proceed is invariably suppressed or only becomes apparent 
at the very end of the series. The first thing that is recorded in 
these series is always the number which results after the expiration 
of the first period. To find the zero point here we must count back- 
ward from IX Ahau 60 days, which brings us to I Ahau, a day which 
is very important in relation to what follows. Here I must utter a 
warning against the error of supposing I Ahau to be the day with 
^238— No. 28—05 28 



434 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bdll. 28 

which Maya chronology begins. It seems rather to be merely an arbi- 
trary term of equation, which must always undergo correction if it is 
to be referred to exact chronology. As Maya chronology begins with 
the day IV Ahau, the correction in our case should consist of --[-140 
or — 120. We shall, in fact, meet with these figures later. 

But it is the purpose of these series to be continued until their terms 
and the differences of those terms agree with the tonalamatl of 260 
days. This object it not attained in the first twelve terms. The series 
must, therefore, be continued, and this is done not in the next line 
(the second from the top), but in the topmost line, which we will 
therefore consider before the second. 

This topmost row, as I have already observed, is in part destroyed. 
The numbers still legible are as follow : 

1 

14 6 16 7? 


I am glad to be able to state here for the first time that I have 
succeeded in completing this line in the simplest way. It must have 
appeared as follows, and I have added to it day dates : 



1 








1 


15 


10 


5 


1 


16 


10 


5 


14 


6 


16 


8 














I Ahau 


I Ahau 


I Ahau 


I 



Written according to our method, the figures are 151,840, 113,880, 
75,920, and 37,960; that is, one, two, three, and four times 37,960. 
But the latter number is also equal to 13X2,920; it therefore follows 
directly after 12X2,920, the last term in the series of twelve terms. 

Since the four numbers are all divisible by 260, I Ahau belongs to 
them all ; that is, the day which I assumed to be the zero point of the 
whole series. And it is quite in accord with the rest of the series 
occurring in the manuscript that the difference in the first twelve 
terms is 2,920, but in the continuation, as soon as the number divisible 
by 260 is attained, it is 13X2,920. 

Besides 37,960, of which tonalamatl of 260 days, the solar year of 
365 days, and the Venus year of 584 days are factors, the second num- 
ber from the left, 113,880, which has been frequently discussed and 
is usually designated ahau katun, is especially noteworthy among 
these four numbers. It is also divisible by 780, the triple tonalamatl 
or the Mars year. 

Of the four columns on the right, only the second line, thus far 
omitted, remains to be described. It contains the four numbers 
185,120, 68,900, 33,280, and 9,100 ; to each of them the day I Ahau is 
Mded, since thej are all divisible by 360. Only the smallest of these 



fCestbmann] the numbers 435 

numbers, 9,100, really has anything remarkable about it, as it is 
divisible not only by the tonalamatl, but also by the year of 13 
months, which has 364 days. These figures were for a long time a 
puzzle to me, since thej^ do not form a series and have no legitimate 
relation to their neighbors. They produce somewhat the effect of a 
mere aid to computation, such as one jots down on a separate sheet in 
the course of some great mathematic task. 

A light suddenly dawned upon me when I combined the first and 
third and second and fourth numbers by addition or subtraction. T 
thus obtained four results : 

1. 185,120+33,280=218,400, which is just 600 13-month years of 
364 days, 280 Mars years of 780 days, 840 tonalamatls, and 7,800 
months of 28 daj^s. 

2. 185,120—33,280=151,840; that is, the largest number in the 
topmost line, as well as 416 solar years of 365 days, 52 periods of 2,920 
days, and 260 Venus years of 584 days, or the product of the days 
of the tonalamatl and of the Venus year. 

3. 68,900+9,100=78,000; that is, 100 Mars years or 300 tonala- 
matls. 

4. 68,900—9,100=59,800; that is, 520 Mercury years of 115 days 
or 230 tonalamatls or five times the notable period of 11,960 days 
already mentioned. This can not be chance. The facts speak too 
plainly. But who can penetrate the intellectual workshop of the 
Indian author and trace his course of thought and mode of work? 

The four columns at the right of the page having been thus dis- 
posed of, let us turn to the three on the left, and first to that part of 
them which is below the forty hieroglyphs. 

I will here rejoeat this passage from the transcript of page 24 
given above : 

(3200) 1,366,560 1,364,360 

IV Ahau I Ahati I Ahau 

8 Cumku 18 Kayab 18 Zip 

We will first dispose of the number 2,200. It is simply the differ- 
ence between the two large numbers and, as is usual with differences, 
is provided with a red circle surrounding its lower figure (0). 

Three calendric dates and two numbers now remain. The number 
belonging to the date on the right is missing, probably only for want 
of space, as often happens in this manuscript. I will supply it in 
jDarenthesis and write each date, adding the year of each, below the 
number belonging to it. We then have as follow : 

1.366,560 1,364,360 (1,352,400) 

. IV Ahau I Ahau I Ahau 

8 Cumku 18 Kayab 18 Zip 

Year IX Ix « III Kan X Kan 

° According to the system of the Dresden codex now accepted these will be the years 
VlII Ben, IT Akbal, and IX Akbal. C. T. 



436 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bdll. 28 

From the date on the right to the middle one there is an interval 
of 32 years and 280 days:=32X365+280; that is, the remarkable 
number 11,960, already mentioned, in which the tonalamatl and the 
revolution of Mercury meet. From the middle date to that on the 
left there is an interval of 6X365+10=2,200 days, which is given 
in the manuscript. 

Of these dates, which of course recur every 18,980 days, or 52 
years, that on the right, corresponding to our September 11, hardly 
awakens any particular interest. The corresponding number is 
5,201X260+140. This 140, however, as already indicated, is quite 
necessary, since these three numbers all proceed from the normal date 
IV Ahau, and between IV Ahau and I Ahau there are 140 days. 
Moreover, I would remark that 1,352,400 is 28X48,300 and also 
115X11'''60, and is therefore divisible by 28, the month of the 364- 
day year, and by the revolution of Mercury. 

The middle date is more important. The day 18 Kayab is our 18th 
of June. In my essay " Schildkrote und Schnecke in der Mayalit- 
eratur " I tried to prove that it is likely that the sign for the period 
Kayab is a tortoise's head, that the tortoise was the symbol for the 
summer solstice, and that June 18 was probably regarded as the long- 
est day. The number corresponding to this date is 115X11,864, 
and this is divisible by the revolution of Mercury. It has still 
another property, which I hardly venture to mention. It is 29.66 X 
46,000 ; that is, 46,000 revolutions of the moon, each estimated at 29.66 
days. On pages 51 to 58 of the manuscript the revolution of the moon 
seems to have been even more exactly specified, namely, at "29.526 days, 
as I have pointed oat in Globus, volume 63, number 2. It may be 
objected that 46,000 is a surprisingly round number only to us and 
not to the Maya. But to this I reply that if we divide it by 115, 
the revolution of Mercury, we have 400, and 400 (20X20) in a vigesi- 
mal system is certainly a round number, Avhich for that reason was 
sometimes denoted by a simple word, in the Maya (according to 
Stoll) by bak, in the Cakchikel (according to Seler) by huna. Our 
number 46,000 is therefore a huna of periods in which the times of 
revolution of the two celestial bodies that run their courses the 
quickest harmonize. 

It should also be noted here that the middle one of the three great 
series on pages 46 to 50, amounting to 37,960 days each, also begins 
with the date I Ahau, 18 Kayab. 

In the date on the left, with the number belonging to it, we see 
at last the true starting point of Maya chronology, not only for our 
manuscript, but for Maya literature in general. Thus I consider that 
the Cross of Palenque by the signs on A and B, 16, indicates pre- 
cisely the date I Ahau, 18 Kayab; by those on I), 1, and C, 2, pre- 
cisely the difference 2,200, 8 tonalamatls+6X20; and by D, 3, and 



fSrstbmann] 



THE NUMBERS .437 



C, 4. preciselj^ the date IV Man, 8 Cumkii. This last date, answer- 
ing to onr 28th of June, may be regarded as the day of the greatest 
heat, or the day on which the sun ends its solstice. The correspond- 
ing number, 1,366,560, combines many properties. It is divisible by 
the period of the seilores de la noche, or lords of the cycle, 9 times 
151,840 being therefore nine times the number which we find at the 
apex of the great series; by the tonalamatl, 260 X-^ ,256; by old 
official years, 360X3,796; by solar years, 365X3,744; by Venus years, 
584X2,340; by Mai's years, 780X1,752; by solar Venus periods, 
2,920X468; by the solar-year tonalamatl, 18,980X72; by twice the 
latter, the period so important in the series, 37,960X36; and by the 
periods before mentioned that are usually designated as ahau katuns, 
113,880X12. 

It should also be mentioned that the first number is removed from 
this third one by 14,160 days (equal to 11,960+2,200). Hence the 
difference between them is 14,040, mentioned above as a remarkable 
number, increased by the interval between I Ahau and IV Ahau, 
that is, 120, also mentioned above. 

This number is the real objective point of our page. It lies, like 
almost all the large numbers in the manuscript (except those in the 
serpents) , betAveen one and one and a half millions. Did it represent 
to the writer of the manuscript the present, the past (history), or 
the future (prophecy) ? Perhaps it may serve to elucidate the mat- 
ter further if I remark that the monuments of Copan, described by 
Maudslay, the dates of which most probably refer to the present, all 
contain a number of greater magnitude and therefore point to a more 
recent period than the page under consideration. I here give a 
number of such dates : 

Altar S 1,375,200 Stela I 1,383,760 Stela J 1,393,200 

Altar K 1,402,768 Stela A 1,403,800 Stela B 1,404.000 

Stela M 1,413,000 Stela N 1,414,800 

From this it follows that this degree of civilization, if it survived 
in Copan until the arrival of the Spaniards, probably produced no 
monument of such a character before the year 1400. If page 24 of 
the Dresden manuscript indicates the present by this important num- 
ber, it was written 132 years before the latest monument of Copan, 
mentioned above, and 24 years before the oldest. But I think it is 
more probable that the date farthest to the right (I Ahau, 18 Zip, 
year 10 Kan) denotes the present, the other two alluding to re- 
markable days in the future. In that case, this page is 39 years older. 
The number indicating the present might then have been omitted as a 
matter of course and of little significance, while a reference to as- 
tronomic events of the future was of more importance. Of course, it 
is taken for granted that the initial point of the computation is the 
same for the monuments of Copan as in the Dresden manuscript. 



438 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

The Glyphs 

Here we enter a mysterious realm, where conjectures occupy a 
greater space than actual facts. One fact, however, is certain, and 
that is that these characters are to be read in the same order in which 
I have designated them by numbers. I shall therefore discuss them 
in that order." 

1 to 4. The first three signs are almost wholly destroyed, and this 
interferes in the highest degree with our comprehension of the whole. 
It would scarcely be possible to restore them unless a parallel text 
should be discovered. But this seems to be certain, that the Venus 
period is the chief subject treated of here as well as in the funda- 
mental series already discussed. Sign 4, which I formerly regarded 
as the one belonging to the west, is clearly that of the east. We 
might, therefore, suppose that these four signs signify the four points 
of the compass in the same order in which they are set clown five times 
in the middle of the left side of pages 46 to 50, which pertain to this 
subject, but the remains of sign 3 do not coincide with this theory. 

5 to 9. Here we have the sign for Venus five times in succession, 
thus indicating the five Venus years, which underlie the series occur- 
ring on this page. Signs 6 and 8 seem to me now, as they did eight 
years ago, merely variants of 5, 7, and 9, but I confess that in the 
former I tried for a time to find the sign for Mercury. Both charac- 
ters also occur side by side on pages 46 to 50, where there is no men- 
tion of Mercury, nine or ten times on each page. 

10. This is a familiar form of the sign for Moan. I have recently 
tried to prove in Globus that Moan also stands for the Pleiades, with 
whose disappearance and reappearance the beginning of the year 
seems to be connected. Does sign 10, according to that, denote the 
solar year, with which our page combines the Venus year ? Moreover, 
on page 50, where the 2,920-day period ends, we see the Venus and the 
Moan signs side by side on the right at the top. 

11, 12. If the preceding signs refer to the Venus and solar years, 
we should expect to find the tonalamatl here as the third member of 
the combination. The two signs occurring here are a repetition of the 
same one, being the sign for the thirteenth period of 20 days (Mac), 
the close of which comes at the expiration of 260 days of the year. 
Does the repetition of the character reallj^ signify the recurring 
tonalamatl ? 

13= f. This is the sign kin, " sun ", " day ", with the usual affix, 
which might almost be taken for a sign of the plural. Above it is what 
is known as the rattlesnake sign, which seems to denote a union, a 
grouping together, by the help of which I thought, in my article 

" Owing- to some confusion and uncertainty in tlie identifications fig. 106, wliicli was 
intended to show the glyphs refpi'L'cd to, is omitted. 



fOes'Cbmann] 



THE GLYPHS 439 



" Zur Maya-Chronologie " in the Zeitschrift fiir Ethnologie, that I 
had found a sign for the period of 18,980 (52X365) days. Are we 
then to regard this sign as twice that period; that is, 37,960 days, 
which we see is the objective point of the series on our page? 

14 to 18. As the preceding characters led us to the Venus-sun period 
and to pages 46 to 50, connected with it, so with these five glyphs 
we come to the Mercury-moon period and pages 51 to 58, devoted 
to it, and, therefore, also to the large number in the third column of 
our page. Let us compare with our signs the ten glyphs found on the 
lower half of page 58, above the picture, which I. will designate 

a b 
c d 
e f 
g h 
i k 

(By the way, I would like to consider a as the glyph of Mercury, 
e and f as signs for the solar and lunar year of 364 days; c and d 
might possibly signify 13X28. I will now try to explain characters 
K g, h, i, k.) 

We here reach the following results : 

14=c, which is, as I have shown, the sign for 20 years of 360 days; 
that is, for 7,200 days. 

15 =g, a hand holding a square which is divided by a cross into 
four parts. I am inclined to conjecture that this is the period of 
20 days. Before the sign 15 is the numeral 1, which occurs on page 
58 before g, but with a small cross below it, which perhaps merely 
indicates that the 1 does not belong here, but with g, where there was 
no room for it. I therefore read the whole l-j-20=21. 

16=h, the sign of the fourteenth 20-day period (Kankin), above 
it is the familiar Ben-Ik sign, which I take to be the lunar month 
of 29, or, more precisely, 29.5 days (reckoned at only 28 in the 
calendar). Before it is a prefix which is more distinct on page 
58, consisting of two lines and two small circles, which I am inclined 
to consider the character for duplication, 2X29.5 = 59. Yet I con- 
fess that I am still doubtful about this, especially as to the meaning 
of the character kankin. Was it chosen because 14 is the half of 28 ? 

17==b. Although 17 is almost destroyed, I think there is no doubt 
about this equation, judging from the fragments which remain. 
Hence we have here 13X360=4,680 days, a third of the remarkable 
period of 14,040 days. 



We have therefore, 



14= 7, 200 days 
15= 21 days 
16:= 59 days 
17= 4, 680 days 



11,960 days 



440 SUBEAtJ OF AMERICAiSr ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

that is, precisely the Mercury-moon j)eriod; the last number on 
page 58 was only 11,958, and therefore referred merely to the first 
of the three days set down near it. 

18^k, in both instances forming the termination of the group, 
and actually denoting termination or end, in which sense we often 
find this sign, for instance, eight times in succession at the termina- 
tion of the great periods on pages 61 and 62. It is also the sign 
for the sixth period of 20 days, Xul, and it has long been known 
that xul means the end. Another word, xul, or shul, means the 
tiute, and the character may easily have originally signified the head 
of a flute-player. 

Perhaps it will lead to a better comprehension if we compare the 
very similar group on page 53 at the top. 

19, 20. Here are two characters which indicate that a detailed 
treatment of the jDarts into which each Venus year is divided is now to 
follow ; that is, the 236, 90, 250, and 8 days, as I have already proved 
in 1886, in my Erlauterungen. For the first of these signs is Venus 
itself; the second, a hand holding an obsidian knife (as indicative 
of cutting, of dividing). On pages 46 to 50, where this dividing is 
represented, we see on the left in the middle an entire line filled with 
these hands, four on each of the five pages. 

21 to 25. These five characters all refer to only one of the four parts 
of the Venus year, to the period of 236 days (of the morning star), 
no such amount of space being reserved for the other three. But 
these 236 days are under the domination of the east, this cardinal 
point always accompanying them (in the center of pages 46 to 50, 
above; in the lower third, below). The signs of the periods, as well 
as those of the cardinal point from the middle third of these five 
pages, continually move forward one point above, denoting the- begin- 
ning and below the end of the 236 days. The sign (Chuen or 
Akbal?) constantly repeated in the lower third must likewise have 
some connection with this circumstance. 

If we now turn back to our page 24, we find the signs 21, 22, 23, 24, 
and 25, on pages 47, 48, 49, and 50, and on page 46 in the fourth line 
of the middle third, while on pages 48, 49, 50, 46, and 47, the}^ are in 
the first line of the lower third. It would be venturesome to try to 
explain the characters in detail. They are deities without doubt. 
As seems to me most probable, 21=N, 22=F, 23=H, 24=B, 25=A, 
to follow the designations of Schellhas in the Berlin Zeitschrift fiir 
Ethnologic; but that is merely a very modest conjecture. Before 21, 
which corresponds to the eleventh 20-day period, Zac, we see a 4, and 
this may indicate that this Venus year should begin the 8-day inferior 
conjunction with the day 4 Zac after. Pages 49 and 50 have a 1 
before 23, which seems to be obliterated on page 24. In the singu- 
larly composite character on page 48, first glyph on the right side of 



fOestemann] 



THE GLYPHS 



441 



the center line of the middle, I am inclined to surmise a combination 
of the glyphs of those five gods. 

26 to 28. The sign 26 signifies the day Caban, by which sign also 
the ground and generally the direction downward is often indicated. 
As in this passage we often see Caban closely combined with glyph 
27, as on pages 32b to 35b, on page 48 in the middle of the right half, 
also on page 73 in each of the three divisions, also on pages 38b, 39b, 
40a, 55a, 56a, 66a, 7la, 7lb, sometimes probably denoting agriculture. 
Can 27 be the sign Muhic belonging to the north ? That would agree 
very well with the direction downward. Then follows 28, the famil- 
iar sign Chuen, which we have already seen repeated so many times 
on pages 46 to 50. It has a prefix, the upper part of which is an 
ahau, the lower part of a god's face, probably that of the god D, who 
is usually combined with Ahau ; but D, as Schellhas has .already 
assumed, seems to be a god of the night. Therefore, although there 
is still great uncertainty regarding this point, I feel strongly inclined 







d 







f g 

Fig. 107. Glyphs from the Maya codices. 

to believe there is a reference here to the long period of 90 days in 
which Venus is invisible during the time of superior conjunction, 
that is, it vanishes in night; hence it is dominated by the north. 
With regard to the composite sign 28 I would suggest a parallel with 
A and B, 8, on the Cross of Palenque («, figure 107). 

29 to 31. These characters occur close to the end of the great series. 
They seem to me to denote nothing else than the result of that series ; 
to be sure, 29 is wholly, and 30 almost wholly, obliterated ; but I am 
sure from what remains of 30 that the normal date IV Ahau 8 
Cumku stood here, as it does in the left-hand lower corner of our 
page. In 31, as in 18, we see the sign for Xul, " end ", here denoting 
the end of the great period, which marks the close of the entire compu- 
tation. 

32,33 (Z>, figure 107). The black deity, L, according to Schellhas, 
and with it the glyph of Venus, with the sign above it which we have 
already recognized as the sign for division. Thus we also find these 



442 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

two characters together on page 46 on the right in the middle, where 
the four Venus periods are probably set down in close succession; 
and that 32 and 33 (&) are really meant to denote the periods of 250 
days belonging to the west is confirmed by the fact that the black 
divinity on page 50, on the left, actually appears among the deities 
who govern the separate parts of the Venus year— in the middle of 
the page at the beginning and at the bottom at the end of a period of 
250 days. For prefix the black deity has here the sign Imix with 
three rows of dots proceeding from it. Since with the Mayas Imix 
very commonly stands at the beginning of the 20-day period, as the 
corresponding Cipactli always does with the Aztecs, the whole glyph 
might be read : Here begins the 250-day Venus period. 

34, 35 (c) . Exactly in the same place in which are the signs 32 (5) 
and 33 on page 46 we find the signs 34 and 35 (» on page 47. 35 is 
Venus again, and 34 has the numeral 10 (on page 47 it may possibly 
be 11) before it, and 34, too, seems to signify a deity, possibly R 
(Moan), although in that case we should expect to find a 13 before it. 
On page 47, on the left. Moan represents a period of 8 days belonging 
to the south, the inferior conjunction of Venus. 

If my conjectures are well founded, we have in 21 to 25 the eastern, 
in 26 to 28 the northern, in 32 and 33 (Z>, figure 107) the western, 
and in 34 and 35 (c) the southern part of the revolution of Venus 
(236, 90, 250, and 8 days, respectively), the last three being more 
briefly treated than the first owing to lack of space. 

But I return once more to sign 34, Moan. The striking number 10 
before it suggests the possibility that something else, probably a date, 
was to be designated. Now, the principal part of the sign is like 
that of the third 20-day period. Zip. It may, therefore, mean 
10 Zip. We now remember that the signs for the eastern^part begin 
with the date 4 Zac. But from 4 Zac to 10 Zip of the next year 
we have precisely the interval of 236-f 90+250=576 days, that 
is, a Venus year lacking only the 8 days of invisibility during 
inferior conjunction; according to our calendar, the interval between 
February 4 and September 3 of the succeeding year, the time from 
the appearance of the morning star to the disappearance of the even- 
ing star. May the future determine the year in question here. On 
pages 46 to 50, as I shall directly observe, other years are treated of. 

36 to 40 {d, e, /, g, and A, figure 107) . These, the last five signs, occur 
in exactly this order on pages 46 to 50, one on each page at the 
beginning of the third line in the middle group of the right half, 
directly under the signs which we have just mentioned; but with this 
difference, that on page 24 they always have the same prefix, which 
they lack on pages 46 to 50, while there the same glyph invariably 
follows them. On page 46 the sign 36 {d, (igure 107) has no further 



foestemann] the glyphs 443 

addition ; the signs 37 to 40 {e, f, g, and h) , on pages 47 to 50, on the 
contrary, have various appendixes, which can not be discussed here. 
36 to 40 {d, e, /, g, and h) no doubt likewise denote divinities — 36 
(d) possibly K; 38 (/) probably E. A whole Venus year of 584 
days must belong to them, as signs e, /, figure 103, and a, h, c, figure 
104, indicated at the beginning of these glyphs. 

If, finally, we consider these glyphs as a whole, omitting 1 to 4 
on account of their obliteration and 29 to 31 (a, figure 107), which 
only repeats the normal date, w^e find that the Indian Avriter desires 
to say this : 

I am here treating especially the periods consisting of five successive Venus 
years, bringing them into harmony with the solar year and the tonalamatl. I 
am at the same time considering a second important period, that in which the 
two heavenly bodies of the second class, the moon and Mercury, come together 
in their orbits, a period made up of four unequal parts. Just in the same way is 
each individual Venus year divided into four unequal parts, which appertain to 
the east, north, west, and south and are ruled by certain deities, which I can 
mention only in part, owing to lack of space. Lastly, I would add that each of 
the five Venus years of a period is dominated as a whole by a deity, and the 
signs of these I give here. 

Thus far, for the present, am I able to explain page 24. Many 
riddles still remain unsolved, but if one compares what I was able to 
say in 1886 in my Erliiuterungen, pages 47 and 48, in regard to this 
page, he must agree that the advance in knowledge in these eight years 
has not been small. It is only nine years since the sign for zero 
was discovered, without which no number above 19 could be read. 



PAGES 71 TO 73 AND 51 TO 58, DRESDEN CODEX « 

Pages 71 to 73 of the Dresden Maya manuscript in the middle and 
lower third have each three horizontal rows of hieroglyphs so placed 
that three always align vertically. These hieroglyphs have no con- 
nection AAdth the numbers below them, which are continued toward the 
left and belong to a series w4th the difference 65, of which I have 
already spoken in the second paper of this series. The hieroglyphs 
and numbers can have no connection with each other because the num- 
bers are to be read from right to left, the w^ritten characters from left 
to right. This is proved by the fact that in at least eight instances we 
find above the hieroglyphs a character in which we recognize a hand 
pointing to the right, similar to a hand Avhich occurs twenty times in 
succession on pages 46 to 50 of the manuscript. 

But, misled by the direction of the rows of numbers, the writer 
began the hieroglyphs on page 71 at the right instead of at the left, 
but corrected his mistake after the first four characters. Accord- 
ingly, I read the groups of three hieroglyphs each in the following 
-prder : 

Page 71 Page 73 Page 73 

2 1 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 19 20 21 23 33 

4 3 13 13 14 15 16 17 18 34 35 36 37 38 

-•' There are, therefore, 28 groups, or 84 separate hieroglyphs, fortu- 
nately in an excellent state of preservation, excepting slight injuries 
to groups 19 and 24. It will greatly aid the comprehension of what 
follows if the reader will write these figures on the edge of the sepa- 
rate pages in his copy of the manuscript as well as on that of the pas- 
sage to be discussed later. The number 28, I am very sure, indicates 
the purport of this passage. We have unquestionably to deal here 
with the year of 364 days, of which I treated in my article on " Die 
Zeitperioden der Mayas " in Globus, volume 63, and which consists of 
13 revolutions of the moon of 28 days each, or of 28 weeks of 13 
"days each; each of the 28 groups, therefore, doubtless signifies a 
period of 13 days. 

But the year of 364 days is divided into four periods of 7X13- -91 
days each. The series in our manuscript, pages 31 to 32 and 63 to 64, 
are based upon such periods, and in close proximity to our passage, 
on pages 65 to 69, we find four similar periods, each divided into 

« Zur EntzifEerung dev Mayahandschriften, V, Dresden, July 1, 18fl5. 

445 



446 BUREAU OF AMEEICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

various unequal parts, as I have proved in the treatise " Zur Maya- 
Chronologie " in the Zeitschrift flir Ethnologie, vokime 23, page 144. 
It now appears that in the passage before us the 364 days are also 
divided into four parts of 91 days each; for groups 4, 11, 18, and 
25 have each the same hieroglyphs, and the interval between 4 and 11, 
between 11 and 18, between 18 and 25, and between 25 and 4 is always 
equal to 7X13— that is, 91, except that we find a 4 prefixed in group 
45 (I will designate the three hieroglyphs of each group from top to 
bottom as a, 5, c) . This number I will try to explain later. 

We come to the important question whether we are to recognize 
the beginning of that year in this passage. It should be observed 
here that Spanish authors give us widely differing dates for the begin- 
ning of the Central American year, part of them relating to very late 
times, and hence of little value in examining ancient native literature. 
The date of these statements and the region to which they refer 
should be critically examined. It must be borne in mind, however, that 
different beginnings of the year may have been in use at the same time 
and in the same region, just as with us the civil year begins with the 
1st of January, the ecclesiastic year with the first Sunday in Advent, 
the school year usually at Easter, and the fiscal year at various other 
times. 

According to the statement of Diego de Landa, which dates from a 
period long preceding the end of the sixteenth century, July 16 was 
accepted as the beginning of the Maya year. No doubt their civil 
year began then. 

I have tried, on the other hand, to show in Globus, number 15, vol- 
ume 65 (1894), that according to the accounts given by Peter Martyr, 
dating from the beginning of the sixteenth century and referring, 
it is true, only to Mexico, the Maya, like the Chiapanecs in Chiapas, 
had a year preceded by one Avhich closed in May during the con- 
junction of the sun with the Pleiades, one which began with the 
conjunction of the siin and Orion's belt. I do not believe that 
these peoples regarded the whole of what we call Orion as a constel- 
lation, but only the three bright stars in the belt, the most striking 
feature of the celestial equator. The name mehen ek (" the sons ") 
points to this, and this, too, may be the solution of the three dots 
under the hieroglyph for " year ". Thus we have here an astronomic 
year. 

Mrs Zelia Nuttall, whose labors in the Aztec field have been so suc- 
cessful, presented a " Note on the Ancient Mexican Calendar System " 
to the Congress of Americanists at Stockholm in 1894 in which she 
ingeniously points out a year which began with the spring equinox 
and included in its middle the sacred tonalamatl; that is^ 260 days 
preceded by 52 days and followed by the same number. As the real 



FOESTEMANN] PAGES 71-73 AND 51-58, DRESDEN CODEX 447 

nucleus of the year in question is this ritual period, we may fitly call 
it the ritual year. 

It is this ritual year which I recognize in the present passage of 
the Dresden codex as belonging to the Maya region. It should there- 
fore begin about the 10th of March, acocrding to the Julian calendar, 
which was about the time of the spring equinox. 

Proceeding from this point of time I will now try to tabulate the 
chronology of this passage. In the first column I shall place the 
numbers which designate the groups of hieroglyphs in question : in 
the second I shall specify to which day dates of that year the sepa- 
rate groups refer ; in the third, on which day of our year they fall ; 
lastly, in the fourth, the 20-day period with which each particular one 
mainly coincides : 

1 ltol3 lOto 23 March Ceh 

2 14 to 26 23 March to 4 April Mac 

3... 27to39 5to 17 April ^ 

4..._ 40to52 - 18 to 30 April jKankm 

5... . .--- 53 to 65 ltol3May Moan 

6 66 to 78 14 to 26 May Pax 

7 79to91 27 May to 8 June ^ 

8 92 to 104 9to21June ^Kayab 

9 105toll7 22 June to 4 July ^ 

10 118tol30 5tol7July |Cumku 

11 131 to 143 18to30July Pop 

12 144 to 156--- 31 July to 12 Aug -^ 

13 157 to 169 13 to 25 Aug. -. /^^ 

14 . 170 to 182 26 Aug. to 7 Sept Zip 

15 183 to 195 8 to 20 Sept ^ 

16 196 to 208 21 Sept. to 3 Oct f^^*^ 

17 209 to 221 4 to 16 Oct Tzec 

18 222 to 234 17 to 29 Oct 



19 235 to 247 30 Oct. to 11 Nov /"^^^ 

20 248 to 260 12 to 24 Nov. Yaxkin 

21 261 to 273 25 Nov. to 7 Dec ( 

22 274 to 286 8 to 20 Dec /^°^ 

23 . 287 to 299 21 Dec. to 2 Jan -i 

24 300to312 3tol5Jan jChen 

25 313to325 16 to 28 Jan Yax 

26 326 to 338 29 Jan. to 10 Feb i 

27 339 to 351 11 to 23 Feb j'^^^ 

28 352to364 .-._ 24 Feb. to 8 March Ceh 

AVliile calling attention in what follows to certain points which 
justify this arrangement, I regret that a large number of glyphs must 
be omitted because an explanation of them is impossible. This is 
doubly to be regretted in the case of characters that frequently occur 
in Maya manuscripts, which, if definitely known, would throw much 
light upon many passages. 

Among these is the universally known, much discussed, but never 



448 



BUREAU OF AMEEICAN ETHNOLOGY 



[bull. 28 



clearly understood, Kan-Imix sign («, figure 108), 7c, 10c, 27c, m our 
passage; secondly, the Kin-Akbal sign (h), here lb, 3a, 55, 216, 28«., 
to which we would like to attribute the meaning of an initial day, if 
that meaning were applicable in every case. Further, the glyph (c) 
occurring in 9c, 13&, 14c, 19c, 26c, which, although it seems to be con- 
nected with the conception of a death bird (owl) , is still very far from 
being clearly and suitably explained in every instance. The same 
may be said^of the Caban'sign, which is doubtless often used to indi- 
cate the idea of earth, here 2«, 3c, 24o, 28c, and of the other sign, 
found in Ic, 3c, 21c, 22&, 24c, so often combined with it, as I have 
already stated in my article regarding page 24 of the manuscript. 
A final and authoritative solution is the more to be desired because all 
these signs recur without the least regularity. 

In certain of these glyphs (as in the sign 25c, occurring only once 



dsD dS 




k I 'II-' 

Fig. 108. Glyphs from the Dresden codex. 

here, but continually found elsewhere), and doubtless also in others, 
there may be an allusion to some special feast, some particulfu- cere- 
mony, some sort of sacrificial offering, or even to the rank of some 
individual ; but of all this nothing certain is known at present. 

It is delightful, by way of contrast, to see this pervasive darkness 
occasionally illuminated by a full or even by a dawning ray of light. 
Group 1 is a case in point. For the glyph la {d, figure 108) can be 
explained at the outset. It consists of four parts : On the upper left 
side, the sign kin, " sun ", " day " ; on the upper right side, the sign 
for the year; on the lower right side, the knife, or symbol of division 
or of section ; on the lower left side, what is particularly decisive, the 
month Ceh. I therefore read la: The day of the new year in the 
month Ceh. Sign Ih is the Kin-Akbal sign {h) , which is either the 



fOrstemann] pages 71-*73 AND 51-58, DRESDEN CODEX 449 

initial day or the day Akbal. The latter would signify a Kan year, 
for which I hardly see a reason. 

Further, the four similar groups, 4, 11, 18, and 25 (e) , are of special 
importance. The cross in the upper glyph may here be a compass, 
although it may have another meaning elsewhere. I regard the mid- 
dle glyph as a Bacab, or a deity of the wind and the cardinal points, 
and the lower glyph as ik, " w^nd ". We have long known that each 
group of 91 days is under the rule of a special Bacab. 

The most important events of the year are clearly the sowing of 
the maize and the maize harvest, as well as the beginning and the end 
of the rainy season. Now, we find the first two in the maize deity, E 
(according to Schellhas), who appears in 6c and 13c, which are 91 
days apart and denote the end of May and the beginning of August, 
which perhaps applies to a higher region, since in the plains but 60 
days were reckoned between seed time and harvest. The other signs 
of the two groups, familiar as they are, I must leave unexplained, 

I am inclined to recognize the beginning and end of the rainy sea- 
son in signs 8c and 16c (/) , where what I consider three rays of drops 
fall from a square signifjnng the heavens (as usual), like the rain 
falling from the clouds represented on page 36 below (second pic- 
ture). The serpent, Sh (g), as the symbol of water, may also be an 
allusion to this, as it is often combined with Akbal (which often 
stands for "beginning"). The duration would be 104 days, from 
June to September. But I ought to remark that the sign in w^hich I 
seek a suggestion of the rainy season is very like another, common to 
both the Dresden and Troano codices, which is very closely connected 
with the idea of the w^eek of 13 days (h). 

Some other views I desire to put forth as mere conjectures. 

If the sign Chuen, 7a, is really a serpent's jaw it might refer to the 
beginning of the astronomic year in Ma}^, as the serpent very often 
denotes time. In 9b (i) there is a crouching human figure beside the 
sign which, as I have mentioned above, is regarded as that of the 
death bird. In another place (Zur Entzilferung der Mayahandschrif- 
ten, IV) I have regarded a human figure standing on its head (k) 
on page 58 as a sign for the planet Mercury, and I would add here 
that I am inclined to consider the crouching captive on page 60 as 
Mercury subdued by Venus. In 9&, which belongs to the period from 
the one hundred and fifth to the one hundred and seventeenth days of 
the year, a 115 days' revolution of Mercury is completed. I consider 
page 53, at the top, as a parallel to this passage, where the Venus sign 
occurs quite unexpectedly in the period in which, if the numbers and 
glyphs have reference to each other, the five hundred and second to 
the six hundred and seventy -fourth days elapse, in which, therefore, 
a Venus revolution of 584 days is completed. A crouching figure, as 

7238— No. 28—05 29 



450 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

in 96, also occurs on page 65a in the second series of 91 days, after 
n+13^24 daj^s of this series have expired; that is, directly after the 
115 days of the apparent revolntion of Mercnry. 

In 101), and only in this passage, appears the glyph of the chief god 
of our manuscript, B. This coincides with the time of the sun's 
greatest power and of the civil new year, July 16. In group 12 a and 
c represent the year and h the head with the Akbal eye. Is this the 
beginning of the cIahI year? This should really form group 11, but 
there was no room for it, as the signs for the period of 91 days had of 
necessity^o stand there. 

Signs 14a and 15c are almost alike and remind us of la. Are they 
meant to express the middle of the ritual year, the time of the autum- 
nal equinox, September 10? In 15a two hooks diverge from a sun 
sign. Are these the two halves of the year and is the numeral 3 
preceding them the third quarter of the year? 

In 206 we have the sign for the death god. A, which probably does 
not occur by chance where the month Xul comes to a close, which 
signifies the end. 

In 23(2 we have the glyph of a black bird; two hooks pointing 
up and down proceed from it ; below is the sign for the year. Is this 
the time of the shortest day, when darkness prevails? 

This is all that I can say at present with regard to this calendar; 
some points are decided, others are still doubtful. 

I find nothing in Codices Troano-Cortesianus and Peresianus vvhich 
corresponds to this passage. On the other hand, several Central 
American calendars have been handed down to us from Spanish 
times. For instance, that of Pio Perez from northern Yucatan, 
which may be found in Stephens's Travels in Yucatan, in the Kegistro 
Yucateco, and in Brasseur's edition of Diego de Landa. In Brinton's 
Native Calendar of Central America and Mexico (1893), page 48, 
there are also two Chiapanec calendars from Chiapas. These calen- 
dars append a few ritual, astronomic, meteorologic, and economic 
notes to every period of 20 days. We might believe that these and 
other similar calendars that probably exist were translated directly 
from such ancient calendars as the one which is presented to us in 
the passage just noAv under discussion, onh'' with the old pagan weeks 
of 13 days reduced to periods of 20 days. The passage from the 
Dresden codex discussed here, Avhen once it can be fully translated, 
will very much resemble these more modern calendars. 

We have here been concerned with a year of 364 days, the middle 
of which consists of the sacred period of 260 days, while at the 
beginning and at the end there are 52 days more, 104 together. Is 
it not wonderful, then, that in close proximity, on page 70, on the 
left, above and below, Ave find the two large numbers 1,394,120 and 



FOESTEMANN] PAGES 71-73 AND 51-58, DRESDEN CODEX 451 

1,201,200, both of which are exactly divisible by 364, 260, and 104, 
and therefore also by their common multiple, 3,640. 

The Dresden manuscript has another remarkable parallel to this 
passage, which I shall now proceed to discuss. On pages 51 to 58 
there is an extremely complex series of numbers, which I have already 
discussed elsewhere and may possibly treat later in still greater detail. 
It is interrupted by ten pictures, to each of which belong eight or ten 
glyphs, placed above them. This series begins on page 53, at the top. 
and proceeds first in thirty terms to the top of page 58 ; it then con- 
tinues on page 51, at the bottom, and goes on in thirty-nine more terms 
to page 58. Now, as on pages 71 to 73 the twenty-eight terms are 
accompanied each by three signs, placed above them, so here we have 
two signs above each of the sixty-nine terms. There, as here, the 
numbers certainly have no connection Avith the glyphs, especially as 
the series of numbers forms a clear and perfect whole, and I now 
wish to show the probable interconnection of the glyphs, which is 
wholly different from that of the numbers, as far as that can be done, 
a great many on the upper part of the leaf being destroyed. 

First, I will show the positions of the sixtj^-nine groups of glyphs 
in the manuscript, for the sake of greater clearness : 



31 


32 


I'age 51 
33 34 35 


36 




37 


38 


Page 52 
39 40 




1 


2 


Page 53 
3 4 5 


6 




7 


8 


Page 54 
9 10 11 


12 


41 


42 


43 44 45 






46 


47 


48 49 50 




14 


15 


I'age 55 
16 17 18 






19 


20 


Page 56 
21 22 




51 


52 


53 54 55 


56 


57 58 


59 


60 


61 62 




23 


24 


Page 57 
25 26 






27 


28 


Page 58 
29 30 




63 


64 


65 66 67 






68 


69 







In glancing over this entire series of glyphs we observe that group 
59 is missing. In place of it we find a snaillike sign, to which 
I ascribe the meaning of zero, as on page 64 a very similar sign 
certainly has this significance. This negation seems to me to mean 
that something in the previous passage was written by mistake 
in a wrong place. I would suggest that groups 54 to 59 should be 
arranged thus: 55, 54, 57, 56, 59, so that, not 59, but 58 is the one 
actually missing, and I hope to make this appear in some degree 
probable in what follows. 

Here, as in the j^assage previously treated, I shall designate the 
upper glyph of each group as <z, the lower one as 5. 

The hypothesis advanced by me is as follows: These sixty-nine 
groups of glyphs refer directly, like those in the passage previously 



452 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

treated, to a year of 364 days, which is divided into four quarters 
dedicated :o individual Bacabs, each comprising 7 weeks of 13 days 
each. But we are not dealing here with a single year ; but, in pro- 
portion to the space occupied by the groups, with a period of 
13X69=897 days; that is, with two such years and 13 weeks. Let 
us try to prove this. 

First of all, in group 37« appears a human figure stretching both 
arms upward {I) ; this is repeated in group 65a/ that is to say, 
twenty-eight places farther on, so that just one year (13X28=364) 
lies between them. We see the same human figure, more complete, 
with its glyph, on page 36&/ a bird issues from its head, holding a 
fish in its beak. The preceding year should begin in group 9a, but 
the glyph there is nearly destroyed. 

But now in that year, between groups 37 to 65, I can also point out 
the four Bacabs, which, however, as in the passage on pages 71 to 73, 
do not coincide with the beginning and end of the year. For the 
signs 39, 46, 53, 60 {b in every case), show the Bacab sign previously 
found (m), in the last three identical, in the first at least similar, 
always after an interval of 7 weeks. We should expect to find the 
same sign in the preceding year in groups 4, 11, 18, 25, and 32, but I 
can not point it out there, although I will add that 25a shows at least 
the glyph which was combined with the Bacab sign on page 71. 

If we look at the groups which immediately precede these Bacab 
groups, we see in 38, 52, and 58 (which, according to what has been 
said above, should really be 59), in the lower part heads like those 
of birds, resembling the Bacab sign, which all resemble each other. 
A similar head might be expected in group 45, but instead we find a 
Moan head, which is likewise a bird's head. Thus we again see 
intervals of 7 weeks between each. 

In all of the eight groups mentioned, 38 and 39, 45 and 46, 52 and 
63, 59 (nominally 58, as before mentioned) and 60, we always find 
the glyph Imix as the first, or at least a part of the first, sign, which 
is another confirmation of their general connection. 

But these are not the only instances of a repetition after seven 
groups. In 42a and 496 we see the same sun sign represented be- 
tween light and darkness. In 17 and 24 the same head occurs as the 
lower sign ; also, it is true, in 15, 29, 40, 44, but here, too, 15 and 29 
agree after an interval of 2X7 groups. Groups 15a and 36a agree 
after 3X'J'=21 groups; after a similar interval 10a and 31a show 
the same crouching person ; but so, also, do 20a and 30a. 

If, according to my proposition, 55 and 54 are transposed, then the 
two signs of 33 and 34 will exactly correspond to these after 3X7=^21 
weeks; so, too, will 35 and 56 agree, if, as I have also proposed, 50 is 
put in the place of 57. 



fOestemann] pages 71-73 AND 51-58, DRESDEN CODEX 453 

Nor is it accidental that the serpent signs in 8b and 43« resemble 
each other, although 35=5X7 weeks have passed. 

The perfect agreement between 41 and 47, after only 6 weeks have 
elapsed, might indicate that an exchange had taken place between 
two neighboring groups in one of the two passages. In 417> and 69ffl 
the same head at least occurs; that is, after a space of twenty-eight 
groups, or a year, as in 37 and 65. 

Perhaps the most important thing thus far stated is the probable 
discovery of the sign for a Bacab repeated eight times. It is further 
confirmed by a ninth instance, on page 72, at the top, in the second 
group from the right, but the glyphs set down there belong to a 
series of numbers below them, the difference of whose separate 
terms is 54. In the third member of this series, page 72, at the left 
above, that is, above the number 162, the lowest glyph is associated 
with the character for the month Ceh in exactly the same way as 
group 1 in the passage first discussed, but the Bacab sign, which 
I have just mentioned, is associated with the eighth term; that is, 
with the number 432. Two hundred and seventy days have there- 
fore passed since the Ceh group, and in this time, exactly after 273 
days, the rule of a new Bacab begins. 

It is remarkable that the numeral 4 accompanies this newly dis- 
covered Bacab sign, just as it does in group 4 of page 71, in the 
passage first discussed. To my mind this numeral 4 can only be an 
expletive affirmation that one of the four Bacabs is actually dealt 
with. 

Perhaps it may yet lead to further discoveries if I observe that 
in both of the passages discussed in detail, pages 51 to 58 and 71 to 
73 (I can count at least fourteen instances, in spite of the partial 



PAGES 31 A TO 32a, DRESDEN CODEX <» 

As it seems that the mathematic sohition of the Dresden codex, 
which I undertook with imperfect success eleven years ago, has been 
wholly left to me, I will here more closely consider the especially im- 
portant passage that almost covers the upp(^r third of pages 31 and 32. 
This passage must have seemed to the writer of the manuscript to 
have particular importance; otherwise he would not have repeated 
three large numbers and three differences which occur there, on pages 
62 and 63, where they are mixed with many other things. This repe- 
tition affords us the welcome opportunity of correcting two clerical 
errors in the third large number and in the third difference which 
occur on page 31. I will make these corrections at once, in order not to 
interrupt the exposition later. 

The writer set down the third large number with the numbers 10, 
13, 3, 13, 2; but it should read 10, 13, 13, 3, 2; or, interpreted in 
European numerals, 1,538,342. 

The third difference, standing directly under this number, he wrote 
with 7, 2, then a black 14, and next a red 5. This was due to lack of 
space; it should be 7, 2, 14, 19=51,419. 

Without these two corrections the surprising results which I am 
about to communicate would be impossible. 

Investigation should begin at the right, which is the rule in all pas- 
sages relating to arithmetic series. 

On page 32, on the right, we see the glyphs of all the 20 days, in 

the following order : 

4 13 2 11 

8 17 6 15 

12 1 10 19 

16 5 14 3 

20 9 18 7 

Above each of the four columns there is a XIII in red, which means 
that each of the 20 days is to be considered as a thirteenth week day. 
The 20 days, however, form a regular series only when, beginning at 
the top on the right with the eleventh day, we pass to the fourth 
day, and then proceed in the same way in the following rows, ending 
with the twentieth day on the left below. Now, it appears that there 
are 91 days between day XIII 11 and day XIII 2, and the same is 

<» Dresden, March 26, 1897. 

455 



456 BUREAU OF AMERICA]^ ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

true of all the succeeding members of the series. The real zero point, 
which is always concealed in this manuscript, is XIII 20, the same as 
the last day of the series. This day is, however, the new year's day 
which recurs every 52 years, followed by I 1 as the second day, which 
gives the name to the whole year, for, according to the Maya view, the 
new year's day is not the first, but the zero day. It is not counted. 
Day XIII 20 is, therefore, highly significant in this passage. 

The difference 91 is equally significant. It is a Bacab period, a 
quarter of the ritual year of 364 days. This entire list of 20 days, 
therefore, includes a period of 20X^1^1,820, or 7 tonalamatls. 

The rest of the upper third of page 32 and the column on the right 
of page 31 are filled by a series which begins with 91, and 91 or a 
multiple of this number always aj^pears as the difference. This 
shows an attempt to obtain numbers divisible by the tonalamatl, 
260, This attemj:)t is uniformly adhered to in all these series. At 
the same time a number divisible by 104 is sought, 104 being the 
remainder of a ritual year of 364 days when a tonalamatl, 260. is 
subtracted from it. This division of the year into 260-[-104 recalls 
the hypothesis of Mrs Zelia Nuttall, which assumes that the Aztec 
year was separated into 52-1-260 -{-52.'* 

It is unnecessary to repeat the entire twenty terms of the series 
in the manuscript, some of which are destroyed, since it concerns 
merely an auxiliary calculation. It is sufficient to give the principle. 
Here the two numbers 728 and 3,640 on page 32, on the left, need 
a passing allusion. They are of special importance, since with the 
former the combination of 91 and 104 is obtained and with the latter, 
besides this, the agreement with 260. It is as follows : 

728=8X91 (therefore also 2x364) = 7Xl04. 
.3,640=:40X91 (therefore also 10x364) =35x104=14x260. 

Our chief concern now is to represent what has thus far been stated 
as the germ of what is to follow. 

The writer has added two superfluous signs at the end of the five 
columns of page 31 which belong here, in order to avoid an empty 
space. In the fourth and fifth columns he twice sets down the day 
XIII 20, the importance of which is already sufRcientlj^ conspicuous. 
In the first three columns he sets down the day IV 17 three times, and, 
besides, on the first and second he has twice set down the sign of the 
eighteenth month, Cumku. But we know that only the beginning of 
Maya chronology, upon which all numbers are based, is here meant, 
for it fell on the eighth day of the eighteenth month and was a day 
IV 17 in the year 9 Ix. 

Before we consider the three large numbers with which the three 
first columns begin I nuist make a more general observation. The 



" Note on the Ancient Mexican Calendar System, Stocljholm, 1894. 



FOKSTEMANN] PAGES 31a-32a, DRESDEN" CODEX 457 

manuscript recognizes a multitude of nnmbers which increase from 
1,200,000 to about 1,600,000. A part of these are actually expressed 
in the manuscript, and another part, as we shall see presently, are 
to be found by calculation. Now, all these numbers fall into two 
distinct divisions. The lesser range from 1,201,200 to 1,278,420. 
They therefore extend over 297 tonalamatls, or 211 years. The 
larger, on the other hand, begin at 1,366,560 and end with 1,567,332, 
thus extending over a period of 773 tonalamatls, or 550 j^ears. There 
is a blank space between, which can not be due to accident, for it com- 
j)rises 339 tonalamatls, or 242 years. Fifteen lesser numbers precede 
this gap and twentj^-four greater numbers follow. It may be sur- 
mised that this gap is the present, that the lesser numbers are the past, 
and the larger numbers the future for purposes of prophecy. The 
stelse at Cojoan, which I have mentioned (Zur Entzifferung der Maya- 
handschriften, IV), extend from the date 1,375,200 to 1,414,800; that 
is, through 152 tonalamatls, or 109 years. They signify the present, 
and must, therefore, provided the zero point of chronologic computa- 
tion is the same, be more recent than the Dresden codex, in which the 
future begins about where the present begins in Copan. 

Above each of the three large numbers there was a date composed 
of a number and a glyph, but with the exception of insignificant rem- 
nants these dates are destroyed. Therefore, I can only regard it as 
a bare j)ossibility that they denote the sixteenth day in the first 
month, the eleventh in the seventh, and the first in the fourteenth, 
which positions belong to the three days XIII 20 to be calculated 
afterwards. 

The three large numbers are as follow : 

1. 1,272,544. This is a day IV 1, the seventeenth day of the sev- 
enth month in a year 12 Muluc. The number is divisible by 91 and 
104 : 13,984X91=12,236X104. Of the three factors sought, 260 is 
the only one not found here. 

2. 1,268,540. This is day IV 17, the actual starting point of 
chronology, and this time it is the eighth day of the eighth month 
in the year 1 Ix. The number is divisible by 260, which is always 
the case with day IV 17; that is, it is 4,879X260. But it is also 
divisible by 17; that is, it is 74,620X17. This, too, is not accidental, 
for the interval between XIII 20 and IV 17 is 17, and we often 
find that two day numbers placed in close proximity with each other 
are divisible by their difference. 

3. 1,538,342. This is a day IV 19, the fifteenth day of the eleventh 
month in the year 12 Muluc. Thus the year has the same designation 
as that of the first number, but it is 14 katuns "(14X18,980) in 
advance of the former, and the day in it is 78 days in advance, for 
78 days is the interval between IV 1 and IV 19; but the interval 



458 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bdll. 28 

is the same from IV 19 to IV 17, so that there is the same interval 
between the three days in the three numbers. The third number . 
is neither divisible by 91, 104, nor 260, and yet this is the very 
number from which the number sought is to be obtained. However, 
like the other two, it is at least divisible by 13, the number of week 

days. 

Among the three large numbers the manuscript shows the now 
familiar sign XIII 20. This means that those three numbers are 
all to be reduced to the day XIII 20 by means of subtraction. Now, 
the distance from XIII 20 to IV 1 is 121; from XIII 20 to IV IT, 
IT; from XIII 20 to IV 19, 199. The first two of these numbers are 
directly subtracted, but the third, as is often done, is first increased 
by a multiple of 260, which produces no alteration in the position of 
the days. Here 19TX260+199=51,419 is subtracted. These three 
numbers, 121, IT, and 51,419, the last being in accordance with the 
correction which I gave above, are actually provided in the manu- 
script wnth the red ring, w^hich indicates the subtrahend, and there- 
fore stands for the minus sign ^M\th the Maya. 

By this subtraction the three following numbers are obtained : 

1. 1,272,423; that is, day XIII 20, sixteenth day in the first month, year 
12 Muluc. 

2. 1,268,523; that is, day XIII 20, eleventh day in the seventh month, 
year 1 Ix. 

3. 1,486,923 ; that is, day XIII 20, first day in the fourteenth month, 
year 1 Kan. This day, therefore, divides the year, as was previously 
pointed out, into a tontlamatl of 260 days and a period of 104 days. 

These numbers are not in the manuscript, but as usual in such cases 
they must be calculated by the reader. 'V^^iy were not 260 days less 
deducted to obtain in this way the beginning of a katun, the first day 
of the first month in the year 1 Kan ? I believe this was omitted in 
order to avoid the unlucky new year's day. I am confirmed in this 
opinion by the fact that the same date, 1, fourteenth month, com- 
puted to be sure from IX 1 and in a different katun, also results from 
the black numbers of the fourth serpent, on page 62. 

The three numbers found by computation now stand in a much 
clearer relation to one another than those set down in the manuscript. 

1. The difference between the first and the second number is 
3,900=15X260. 

That this difference is intentional is confirmed by the number 39,000 
resulting from the two numbers in the serpent on page 69, which are 
nearly ten times as large as those mentioned here. There the two 
numbers are 12,381,T28 and 12,391,4T0, from which must be subtracted 
the differences on page T3, 34,T32 and 83,4T4, and the resulting re- 
mainders are 12,346,996 and 12,30T,996, whose difference is exactly 
39,000. 



FORSTBMANN] PAGES 31a-32a, DRESDEN CODEX ' 459 

2. The difference between the third and first numbers is 214,500; 
that is, exactly fifty-five times 3,900, plainly proving that nothing has 
been left to accident here. 

3. The difference betAveen the second and third numbers must 
therefore be 218,400, or fifty-six times 3,900. It should be noted here 
that 56=7X8 and 7 : 8 : : 91 : 104. 

Now, in this 218,400 are united all the properties sought in the 
fundamental series. It is 2,400X91 (therefore also equals 600X364) = 
2,100X104=840X260." To be sure, 3,640 already contains these fac- 
tors, but the fulfillment of prophecy was not sought in such close 
proximity, else the prophet might easily have been held accountable. 
In addition, 218,400 has the desirable property of being composed of 
600 ritual years of 364 days. 

The number 218,400 appears to me now as the real objective point 
of the computation, or rather as its starting point, for the original 
computer must have begun at that point in order by calculating back- 
ward to reach the three apparently unimportant numbers which the 
manuscript records, and then evolve from them such a remarkable 
result. 

In the last column but one of page 31 our passage presents a num- 
ber, 2,804,100, which occupies a wholly isolated position in the manu- 
script, as it is nearly twice as large as any of the other large numbers, 
except those found in the serj^ents. This number ought to allude to 
the year 9 Muluc, and to the thirteenth day of the eighth month, yet 
that seems to have no importance. At all events it denotes the day 
IV 17. On considering its remarkable properties we find : 

1. It is equal to 10,785X260. 

2. It is equal to 17,975x156. The last is the difference between the 
days IV 1 and IV 17. From this follows: 

3. It is equal to 35,950x78. 78 is the difference between IV 19 and 
IV 17, and between IV 1 and IV 19. 

4. It is equal to 719X3,900. We have above already recognized 3,900 
as a very important number. 

But 2,804,100, on account of its magnitude, awakens the suspicion 
that it may be composed of two of the ordinary large numbers. 
These might be — 

5. It is equal to 1,308,580+ 1,495,-520; that would signify 14,380X 
(91-i-104). 

6. It is equal to 1,380,600+1,423,500; that would signify 3,900X (354+ 
365.) 

This shows, as was evident from number 4, the important 3,900, but 
it divides the 719 mentioned there into the lunar year, 354-=6X 
29-1-6X30, and the civil year. I confess I have met this nowhere 

« 18.^,120 + 33,280=218,400. 



460 ' BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

else with the Mayas, except in the Dresden manuscript, pages 51 to 
58, where we find the often repeated 177^=354^2. 

We might inckide here the two important numbers 14,040 and 
18,980, of the first of which 260 and 360 are factors, as 260 and 365 
are of the second. Then we see : 

7. It is equal to 147X18,980+14,040. 

8. It is equal to 200 X 14,040— 3,900. 

But it would be unsafe to attempt to penetrate deeper into the 
sense and purpose of these numbers until new light is shed from 
without. 

I have still to speak of the upper right-hand corner of page 31a, the 
greater part of which is unfortunately destroyed. The fifth and last 
column is entirely destroyed. It may have contained one more num- 
ber of the series, whose loss is not to be deplored, but above it were, 
perhaps, one or two glyphs whose loss is sadly felt. 

There are five or six glyphs in the fourth column preceding. Of 
these only the lower four are to be seen, the first two only indistinctly. 
I have already said something about them in 1891 in the Berlin Zeit- 
schrift fiir Ethnologic, volume 23, pages 141 to 155. 

Of these four signs I must leave unnoticed the second from the top, 
where we see a red 6 peculiarly introduced. 

The first sign is an Imix with prefix and probably also a sign over 
it. I adhere to the opinion that this denotes the katun period, 18,980 
days, or perhaps a multiple of it. 

I have attempted to explain the third sign as 24X3G5 days, or the 
triplicate of the sacred period of eight years, that is, the so-called 
ahau of 8,760 days, and I still consider it in a measure a probable 
solution, especially in view of the passage on page 73 at the top. 

Finally, the lowest sign is undoubtedly the one for 7,200 (20X360) 
days, that I have found provided with a prefix in manuscripts and 
inscriptio'ns, which probably indicates a multiple of this period. 

It is most remarkable, however, that these three signs are found 
very near each other in three other passages of the manuscript. On 
page 61 the sign for 8,760 occurs in the eleventh, the sign for 18,980 
in the twelfth, place in the second column, and the sign for 7,200 in 
the fourteenth place of the first column. On page 70 the sign for 
18,980 occurs in the fourth, the sign for 8,760 somewhat lower in the 
third, column, and two places below this the sign for 7,200. Finally. 
the three signs all occur in close succession on page 73 at the top, in 
the same order as on page 31. 

It is therefore my opinion that a prophecy is the real purpose of 
this passage, as of all similar ones. For, of course, no one believes 
that these are mere exercises in arithmetic or directions for them. 



F5ESTEMANN] PAGES 31a-32a, DRESDEN CODEX 461 

But now the question naturally arises, What is actually prophesied 
here? We find nothing said about it, and there would hardly be 
room for it in the manuscripts. We might conjecture that an omen 
was connected with certain numbers and with individual days, as we 
actuall}^ find such omens mentioned in the calendar of Perez given 
by Stephens. But it is also possible that the cunning priests avoided 
committing their prophecies definitelj^ to writing and that they left 
them to the chances of verbal transmission and tradition. Finally, 
the graphic system of the Maya, which never even achieved the 
expression of a plirase, or even of a verb, is too imperfect to serve as 
a medium for the transmission of prophecies; at any rate, it could 
only have done so very inadequately. 



THE SERIES OF NUMBERS, DRESDEN CODEX. PAGES 

51 TO 58 « 

The most difficult and ingenious number series of the Dresden 
codex, which occupies the upper half of pages 58 to 58 and the lower 
half of pages 51 to 58, has already been discussed by me several 
times, the first time and most minutely in 1886 in my Erlauterungen, 
pages 33 to 34 and 68 to 70. But since then my comprehension of 
these numbers has been so enlarged that a new treatment of this 
important subject seems imperative. 

This passage, however, is organically connected with the immedi- 
ately preceding pages 46 to 50, page 24 having briefly treated of the 
contents of the two sections (see Zur Entzifferung der Mayahand- 
schriften, IV). The purport of pages 46 to 50 is the bringing into 
harmony of the apparent Venus year of 584 days, the solar year of 
365 days, and the tonalamatl of 260 days, and this is accomplished 
by means of three series, each of Avhich extends over 37,960 days, for 
that length of time is equivalent to 65 Venus, 104 solar, or 146 tona- 
lamatl years. 

The corresponding problem on pages 51 to 58 is, first of all, to find 
an agreement between the apparent Mercury year of 115 days and 
the tonalamatl of 260 days, and this agreement is afforded by the 
period of 11,960 days=l64X115=46X260. Curiously enough, this 
period includes as manj^ Mercury years as the preceding period con- 
tained solar years. 

The upper part of pages 51 and 52 treats of these 11,960 days, with 
regard to which I need not go into further detail here, since the 
greater part of this passage is occupied by a series whose difference 
is exactly 11,960. 

It is most interesting to note that the Maya also sought to bring 
the revolution of the moon into connection with this period, and to 
observe the manner in which they did it. For the revolution of the 
moon, which we assume to be 29.53 days, in any case demands a 
fractional computation, of which the Maya either knew nothing, or 
which they carefully avoided, just as did the ancient Egyptians, who 
were familiar only with fractions having 1 for their numerator, and 
at the utmost with the fraction § (see Hultsch, Die Elemente der 
agyptischen Teilungsrechnung, 1895, page 16). 

But the Mayas knew the revolution of the moon too accurately not 

"Zur Bntssifferung der Mayahandschriften, VII, Dresden, Jan. 16, 1898. 

463 



464 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bdll. 28 

to have seen that the period of 11,960 days could not be made to 
coincide with a multiple of lunar revolutions. With 405 lunar revo- 
lutions they obtained only 11,958 days, and this number is actually 
the highest of the series on the second half of page 58. 

In order to make the series of 11,958 days applicable to one of 
11,960 days, they employed a most ingenious device. As the starting 
point for each term of the series they took not a single day, but 
three consecutive days: For the first term, XI 4, XII 5, XIII 6; 
for the last, IX 2, X 3, XI 4. So the first day of the first term was 
actually 11,958 days distant from the first day of the last term, but 
the first day of the first term was distant 11,960 days from the third 
day of the last term. 

At all events, the whole period of 11,958 days was first divided into 
three equal periods of 3,986 days each. In order to divide these 
smaller periods still further the term of 177 days was used, as far as 
this was practicable; but 177 is the half of a lunar year of 354 days, 
which is composed of 6 months of 30 days and 6 months of 29 days: 
that is, to each month, in round numbers, are allowed 29.5 days. 

177 is, therefore, equal to 3X29+3X30; but the average of 29.5 
days for the duration of a lunar revolution is a little too small. In 
order to raise it to the most exact value possible, in certain places of 
the series of two other numbers were introduced, viz : 148=2X29+ 
3X30 and 178=2X29+4X30; 148 is equivalent to 5 months of 
29.6 days and 178 to 6 months of 29.666+ days. Now, we must see 
in what proportion these 148 and 178 days were distributed among 
the periods of 177. 

First we see that the term of 3,986 days, that is, a third of the whole 
period, was divided into three sections of 1,742, 1,034, and 1,210 days 
in the following manner : 

1,742=8x377+148+ 378 
1,034= 4X177+ 148+ 178 
1,210= 6X177+ 148 

3,986=18x177+3. 148+2. 178 

This equals 135 months of 29.526 days each. How did the Maya 
express this fraction? Perhaps it will be shown in the future that in 
accordance with their vigesimal system, they approximately denoted 

it thus: 29 + i+ 4'o + s^. 

The whole period of 11,958 days was therefore divided m the fol- 
lowing way: 

3X1,742=24X177+3X148+3X178 
3X1,034=12X177+3X148+3X178 
3X1,210=18X177+3X148 

3X3,986=54X177+9X148+6X178 



FOESTEMANN] SERIES OF NUMBERS, DRESDEN CODEX 465 

For every six divisions by 177 there is, then, one by 148 ; for every 
nine divisions by ITT, one by 178. 

Since 177 and 178 each embrace C months and 148, on the other 
hand, embraces 5 months, the whole length of the period equals 405 
months, which are divided into 69 periods. 

All this had to be discussed before I could communicate the entire 
series itself. I will here set down the numbers and join to them the 
difference between each number and the preceding one (in the case of 
the first, therefore, the difference between that and the zero point), 
just as they are given in the manuscript. I have placed an asterisk 
where I have corrected a number, the manuscript in the correspond- 
ing places containing an error in writing or in computation. The 
three columns correspond to the three thirds of 3,986 days each, the 
two horizontal spaces separate the periods of 1,742, 1,034, and 1,210 
clays. 

(Page53a) 24 4,163* 177 47 8,149 177 

1 177 177 25 4,340 177 48 8,326 177 

2_ 354* 177 26 4,488 148* 49 8,474 148 

3 502 148 (Page 58a) 50 8,651 177* 

4 679* 177 27 4,665 177 (Page 55b) 

5 856 177 28 4,842 177 51 8,828 177 

6 1,034* 178* 29 5,020 178* 52 9,006 178* 

(Page 54a) 30 5,197 177 53 9,183 177 

7 1,211 177 (Page 51b) 54 9,360 177 

8. 1,388 177 31 5,374 177 55 9,537 177 

9 1,565 177 32 5,551 177 56 9,714 177 

10 1,742* 177 33 5,728 177 

11 1,919 177 34_._._- 5,905 177 57 9,891 177 

12 2,096* 177 35 6,082 177 58 10,068* 177* 

13 2,244 148 36 6,230 148 (Page 56b) 

(Page 55a) (Page 52b) 59 10,216 148* 

14 2,422* 178* 37 6,408 178* 60 10,394 178* 

15 2,599* 177 38 6,585 177 61 10,571 177 

16 2,776 177 39 6,762 177 62 10,748 177 

17 2,953 177 40 6,939 177 (Page 57b) 

18 3,130 177 (Page 53b) 63 10,925 177 

(Page 56a) 41 7,116 177 64 11,102 177 

19 3,278 148 42____-- 7,264 148 65 11,250 148 

20 3,455 177 43 7,441 177 66 11,427 177 

21 3,632 177 44 7,618 177 67 11,604 177 

22 3,809 177 45_----. 7,795 177 (Page 58b) 

(Page 57a) (Page 54b) 68 11,781 177 

28 3,986 177* 46-._-_. 7,972 177 69 11,958 177 

No one who is familiar with the carelessness of the Maya manu- 
scripts will be surprised that I should pronounce 20 of the 138 num- 

7238— No. 28—05 30 



466 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [boll. 28 

bers of the manuscript incorrect. Moreover, the 20 errors are lessened 
by the fact that six of them are really one and the same, for in all 
of these six cases, where the difference is 178, the writer has over- 
looked this and mechanically written down the usual ITY, although 
the numbers and days of the series quite correctly indicate 178. 
Moreover, the three errors in groups 58 and 59 are only one, for the 
author had confounded the diff'erences 177 and 148, and was, there- 
fore, obliged to write the number 10,039 instead of 10,068, which will 
find confirmation later. From this it follows besides that the writer 
was at the same time the computer, consequently the actual aiithor. 

I must further call attention to the regular position of the differ- 
ences 178 and 148. In the three periods of 1,742 days 178 is always 
in the sixth place, in those of 1,034 days it is always in the fourth 
place. It appears, therefore, in groups 6, 14, 29, 37, 52, and 60, that 
is to say, at intervals of 8, 15, 8, 15, 8 groups; in the periods of 1,210 
days it is wholly wanting. The difference 148 in the nine divisions is 
always in the third place, that is to say, always close to the pictures, 
of which we shall presently speak ; therefore, in groups 3, 13, 19, 26, 
36, 42, 49, 59, 65, that is, at intervals of 10, 6, 7, 10, 6, 7, 10, 6 groups. 
We can not yet look further into the causes of this curious fact. 

But I must refer to a pregnant error. Groups 22 and 23 quite 
correctly have the difference 177, but the writer in this single place 
sets down 178 and consequently computes the three days belong- 
ing here as VII 11, VIII 12, "iX 13, instead of VI 10, VII 11, 
VIII 12, and from here to the end he is always one day in advance, 
so that group 69 on page 58 closes with the days X 3, XI 4, XII 5, 
which ought to be IX 2, X 3, XI 4. 

Now it is important to determine the zero point belonging to this 
series, for every series of this manuscript conceals it. It must be 177 
days before the first group, that is, before days VI 1, VII 2, and 
VIII 3, which leads to the days XI 4, XII 5, and XIII 6. 

Of these days the middle one, XII 5, is by far the most important; 
it occurs on the upper half of page 51 six times, on page 52 four times. 

On page 51, in the first column on the left, we first find the normal 
date and starting point of the computation, the day IV 17, as the 
eighth day of the eighteenth month in the year 9 Ix, but under it 
our day XII 5. Below the latter there is an 8, beneath this number 
the character kin (" sun ", " day "), and combined with the latter the 
character imix, with a sign above it clearly denoting " combination ", 
" union ". In the Zeitschrift fiir Ethnologic, 1891, page 152, I have 
already ascribed the meaning of a katun (18,980=52X365 days) to 
this combination, and I still hold this opinion. 

This group may, therefore, signify the 8 days which elapse between 
IV 17 and XII 5, but it may also denote the period of 8X18,980= 
151,840 days; probably it signifies both at the same time. 



FOESTEMANN] SEEIES OF NUMBEES^ DRESDEN CODEX 467 

Two numbers are set down with this day XII 5, one in red and 
one in black: 1,578,988 on page 51 and 1,412,848 on page 52. The 
first nmnber points to the sixth day of the eighteenth montli [Cumku] 
in the year 6 Kan ; the second, to the first day of the fifteenth month 
[Moan] in the year 6 Midnc. 

From the year 6 Mukic to the year 6 Kan there are 39 years, or 
14,235 days; from the first day of the fifteenth month to the sixth 
day of the eighteenth month there are 65 days; therefore the two 
dates are separated by an interval of 14,235+65, or 14,300 days, unless 
a round number consisting of multiples of a katun (18,980 days) 
comes into question. But 1,578,988 — 1,412,848 equals 166,140. 
Again, if 14,300 is subtracted from this last number, the remainder is 
151,840, actually then 8X18,980 or 416X365 (solar years) or 260X584 
(Venus years) or 52X2,920 (Venus-solar periods). Thus I am justi- 
fied in having really read 8 katuns on page 51. 

Moreover, I found this number 151,840 by computation once before 
in the manuscript. Compare my fourth article in this series, where 
I pointed out that it is the difference between the two numbers 
185,120 and 33,280 on page 24 of the manuscript. On the last-named 
page, if my restoration of the effaced passage is correct, this same 
number stands as the highest of the series, actually set down as the 
quadruple of 37,960, in which the solar year, the Venus year, and the 
tonalamatl accord. 

All these remarks relate to the day XII 5, the middle one of the 
three days XI 4, XII 5, and XIII 6. But the third day, XIII 6, 
also demands consideration, for on it depends the great series that 
begins on page 58 at the right and extends over the whole of page 59, 
which has for its difference 780, in which I recognized the period of 
the apparent revolution of Mars. 

We must now leave the clear domain of numbers and enter a mys- 
terious realm in which science thus far has reaped but a scanty har- 
vest, and on which I, too, can throw but little light. As on pages 46 
to 50 at the end of each period of 2,920 days there are three pictures, 
so there are pictures, ten in all, inserted between the different numbers 
and symbols. 

One of these pictures, the eighth, on page 56b, stands in the wrong 
place in consequence of the error in computation which I discovered 
in groups 58 and 59. It does not belong before, but after, group 59, 
the first on page 56b. This the manuscript itself suggests, for in 
group 59 the two glyphs usually standing above each group are miss- 
ing, and in their stead we find a character resembling a snail. But 
this, according to my Erlauterungen, page 29, is nothing more than 
an emphasized zero, which indicates that the section marked by a 
picture closes with this group. 



4(58 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [boll. 28 

^Y]len this error is corrected, we see that the ten pictures stand thus 
on the following pages and after the following numbers of the series : 

1 53a 502 

2 55a 2,244 

3 56a 3, 278 

4 57a 4, 488 

5 52b 6, 230 

6 53b 7, 264 

7 54b 8, 474 

8 ^-56b 10,216 

9 57b 11, 250 

10 58b 11, 958 

From this it follows that a picture is assigned to each of the nine 
sections which form the series, yet never at the beginning or end of 
the section, but only after the expiration of 502=2XlTT+148 
days. The intervals of time between the pictures, therefore, amount 
to 1,742, 1,034, and 1,210 days, exactly the same as the duration of the 
separate nine sections. The last picture alone is distant T08 days 
from the last but one, and besides has peculiar characteristics, and 
consequently must be specially discussed. But these Y08 days at the 
end and the 502 days at the beginning again quite regularly make 
1,210 days. 

Now it is easy to suppose a new series in these nine pictures, which 
is interpolated in the original one, a series, in fact, whose zero point 
falls on the day 502. We shall, therefore, always have to subtract 502 
days from the days occurring in the manuscript. This new series is 
then represented in the following manner : 

1 53a 

2 55a 1, 742 

3 56a 2, 776 

4 57a 3, 986 

5 52b. 5, 728 

6 53b 6, 762 

7 54b 7, 972 

8 56b 9. 714 

9 57b ]0, 748 

We are struck by the fact that the final number 10,748 corresponds 
so closely to Saturn's period of revolution, Avhich is computed at 
10,753 days. There is no reason why the Mayas might not have been 
familiar, not merely with the apparent, but also with the actual revo- 
lution of this planet, first, on account of the slowness of its movement, 
and, secondly, on account of the absence of retrogradation, which is 
so important in the inner planets. Moreover, the apparent revolu- 
tion of Saturn (378 days from one superior conjunction to the next) 
could not be made to agree with the length of the solar year. I will 
immediately offer a further proof of my theory. 



FdESTEMANN] SERIES OF NUMBERS, DRESDEN CODEX 



469 



All these pictures are joined at the top to those rectangles of which 
I have spoken in my Erlanterungen, page 16, and which always con- 
tain two or three glyphs, that, with much hesitation, I was inclined to 
interpret as the symbols of the sun, moon, and planets. No serious 
contradiction of this theory has thus far ensued. 

As the symbol of Saturn, I indicated in the article mentioned a or 
h, figure 109 : These figures are actually found in all of the nine pic- 
tures with the exception of the first, which has no such rectangle, the 
place, therefore, where the zero point is concealed, according to the 
true Maya method. 

But I go still farther in my bold hypothesis. The time assigned 
to Jupiter for its apparent revolution is 397 days. I believe that the 
Mayas adopted 398 days for the period. In the article mentioned I 
have taken to be the symbol of Jupiter : c or d, figure 109. 

This character occurs in pictures 4, 6, 7, and 9. The numbers 





^ ^ 






d 

f g h i k I m n 

o f q T 8 

Pig. 109. Glyphs from the Dresden codex. 

belonging to them, reduced for the revolution of Saturn, are 3,986, 
6,762, 7,972, and 10,748. But in addition I include, as the zero point, 
the place where the sign has been suppressed, the picture 3, that is, the 
number 2,776, and I also include picture 10, which is not reached by 
the revolution of Saturn and has the number 11,958. 

If these numbers are compared with 398, that is, with the appar- 
ent revolution of Jupiter, then we have the following result : 

3 2,776= 7x398—10 

4 3,986=10X398+ 6 

6 6,762=17X398— 4 

7 7,972=20X398+12 

9 10,748=27X398+ 2 

10 11, 958=30x398+18 

The differences, 10, 6, 4, 12, 2, 18, in comparison with 398, are all so 
small that the numbers, 2,776, etc., might very well have been consid- 
ered as approximate multiples of the revolution of Jupiter. Let us 



470 BUEEAU OP AMEEICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

compare the following numbers^ which do not come near coinciding 
with it : 

1 502= 398+104 

2 1,742= 4X398+150 

5 5,728=14x398+156 

8 9,714=24x398+162 

Those belonging to the latter four pictures have in fact no Jupiter 
symbol. Further, the regular progression from the seventh to the 
tenth, seventeenth, twentieth, twenty-seventh, and thirtieth multiple 
in the six equations given above somewhat increases the credibility of 
my view. 

I will not go into particulars here in regard to the rest of the 
glyj)hs found in the rectangles. That task must be undertaken some 
day in a wider connection. For these rectangles are by no means a 
peculiarity of the Dresden codex, as it has them in common with the 
other Maya manuscripts, while, excepting one trace in Codex Teller- 
iano-Remensis, I have not found them in the Aztec manuscripts. 

Concerning the pictures, I regret that I have only detached remarks 
to oifer, and not, as I always desire to do, a definite, concise result of 
my investigations. I find human figures four times, not counting 
the tenth picture, as follows : 

Picture 1, page 53a, has the death god. A, sitting and pointing 
upward. 

Picture 2, page 55a, has the head of a deity, probably I), yet with 
the suggestion of a beard, and on his brow the symbol of the sun. 
The head is surrounded by a black and white striped ring. 

Picture 3, page 56a, has the head of B, again with a beard ; above 
it, kin (the sun) . The head is encircled hj a stripe, black on the left, 
white on the right. 

Picture 6, page 53b, has a hanged female figure, which Schellhas 
(Gottergestalten, page 11) believes to be the Maya goddess Ixtab, 
the goddess of the halter ; that is, of the hanged. 

The suggestion of a face, perhaps in place of the sign ahau, occurs 
in picture 4, page STa, as the center, but on the sides the surface is 
black and white. 

It is significant, furthermore, that kin (" sun ") forms the center of 
the picture four times, viz, in pictures 5, T, 8, and 9, pages 52b, 54b, 
56b, and 57b. In all four cases Ave see beside the kin one black 
and one Avhite surface, as we have already seen them in picture 4 
and similarly in picture 3. Pictures 8 and 9 are, as it were, disgorged 
by a snake drawn beloAV them. In pictures 5 and 8, four arrowlike 
symbols diverge from the kin in four directions, probably the four 
cardinal points or the four Bacabs, We see two of these symbols 



I'oestemann] series OF NUMBERS, DRESDEN CODEX 471 

also in picture 7 (page 54b), but onlj'^ on the black, not on the white, 
side. 

Figure 10 is that of a nondescript creature. It has a human form 
and appears to be diving headforemost from the two symbols of 
the sun and moon, against which it presses its feet. Above the sun 
and moon symbols is a rectangle with the signs of Venus and Jupiter. 
Instead of a head, or perhaps as a mask over his face, this creature 
]ias that symbol for Venus which is to be found not only on pages 
51 to 58, but also on pages 46 to 50, and above this there is a kind of 
crown. Between his legs is a sjanbol which forms a kind of tail and 
is suggestive of the flint, so often found as the prefix to the Venus 
sign, only here it is so well formed that it resembles still more the 
Aztec equivalent, tecpatl. 

Of the glyphs above the pictures I can likewise give only an unsat- 
isfactory account. There are properly always ten of them, among 
them the two signs for the sun and moon; yet the writer has added 
these sun and moon signs to pictures 1 to 4 only, besides the more 
elaborate picture 10. From pictures 5 to 9 he has omitted them, as 
being understood, in order to make the remaining eight larger and 
clearer. Among the latter are several ghq^hs of gods, the most dis- 
tinct being those of A in pictures 1, 5, and 9, and of H in picture 5, 
besides which there are other uncertain heads, part of them birds' 
heads, as in pictures 1, 3, 5, T, 8, 9. 

The Ben-Ik sign, to which I have ascribed the significance of a 
lunar month, we see with pictures 4, 8, 9, and twice with pictures 
1 and 10. 

I would like to see the symbol of Mercury with the figure in pic- 
tures 9 and 10, especially on account of its resemblance to the glyph 
of Venus. 

Pictures 1, 7, 8, and 10 show hands grasping a glyph (a sign for 
20 days?). 

The enigmatic numbers before the glyphs occur several times, as a 
1 in pictures 1 and 10, concerning which I shall say more directly, 
a 4 twice in picture 8, and a 6 in picture 3. 

I have already discussed the hieroglyph in picture 10 (Zur Ent- 
zifferung cler Mayahandschriften, IV), for they are very similar to 
those occurring on page 24. I denote them thus : 

1 6 

2 7 

3 8 

4 9 

5_— — 10 

Of these, 5 is certainly the sign for 7,200., and 6 that for 13X360= 
4,680. In 7 and 9, on account of the Ben-Ik, I see two months of 29.5 



472 BUEEAU OF AMERICAISI' ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

days, that is, 59 clays altogether, and in 4 I see the sign mentioned 
above for 20, together with the 1 that is before the fifth glyph, which 
is advanced one place by a little cross, hence 21. From this the fol- 
lowing result is obtained : 

5 7, 200 

6 4, 680 

7 and 9— 59 

4 21 

11,960, 

the number arrived at in this whole series. 

The two rows of glyphs above the figures on these pages I can 
not consider as belonging at all to the subject under discussion. I 
have considered them more in detail in Zur Entzifferung der Maya- 
handschriften, V. 



MAYA CHRONOLOGY 



E. FOT^STEMANIST 



473 



MAYA CHEONOLOGY" 



By E. Forstemann 



All previous studies of the Maj^a calendar present some unexplained 
or baffling points for which an explanation or correction must be 
sought. I will here state these points in numbered paragraphs in 
order that I may afterwards refer to them. 

1. The series of 20 days is said to begin either with Imix, which 
view is supported by the Aztec arrangement, as well as by various 
passages in Codex Troano-Cortesianus, or with Kan, which view is 
based on the express testimony of Diego de Landa, as well as on the 
Dresden codex.^ 

2. All computation of long periods of time should, according to my 
own hypothesis, which I advanced in the year 1887, begin with the 
eighth day of the eighteenth month. What is the reason for the 
prominent position of this day? 

3. The periods of 24 years, the ahaus, are said to begin with the 
second day of the Cauac year. Why should this day be chosen ? 

4. The day XIII 20 is decidedly of great importance in the Dres- 
den codex in cases in which a period of 260 days is not in ques- 
tion, but a solar year divided into four equal parts of 91 days each. 
How is the prominence of this day in such cases to be explained ? 

5. Pages 25 to 28 of the Dresden codex, which relate beyond a 
doubt to the change to the new year, are said actually to treat only 
of the last two unlucky intercalary days at the end of the year. Why 
of these only ? 

6. Calendar dates have a formula like this: III, 2; 13, 3d month. 
This I explained in 1887 as the second week day Chicchan that is 
followed by the thirteenth day of the third month. Although I have 
tried to establish this view, it still seems somewhat forced. How is 
this difficulty to be obviated ? 

I have recently reached the conclusion that at the end of the fif- 
teenth or the beginning of the sixteenth century the confusion was 
observed which arose from the fact that the year was computed only 



« Zur Maya-Chronologie, Zeitschrift fiir Ethnologie, Dresden, 1891. 

" This rule, as has been subsequently shown, does not apply to the Dresden codes. C. T. 

475 



476 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

at 365 whole days. In earlier times such confusion was perhaps not 
possible, because the chronology was probably not based then on 
the solar year, but on the period of 260 days, the tonalamatl, pos- 
sibly also on a period of 400 (20X20) days. To obviate this con- 
fusion I think they did what has been done under similar circum- 
stances by other peoples; that is, they intercalated 17 days; and, 
instead of Imix, Avhich had hitherto begun the series of days, Kan, 
which had already passed, was reintroduced with the days which fol- 
lowed it. Traces are found in Codex Troano-Cortesianus of this 
older arrangement, for instance, in Cortesian codex on page 31a, and 
in Troano codex on page 31, whether this is older than the Dresden 
codex (which my correspondents will not admit) , or has been copied 
from an older manuscript, or was produced in some other region 
which still preserved the Aztec arrangement. But Landa, who un- 
questionably spoke of his own time, is thoroughly trustworthy when 
he gives Kan as the first day, especially as the Dresden codex gives 
precedence to that day. I need only recall the eight highest figures m 
this manuscript, those in the serpents on pages 61 and 62, whicji are 
all counted from a day Kan. In this way I explain number 1. 

Number 2 may also be very simply explained. Before the cor- 
rection of the calendar that eighth clay of the eighteenth month, 
from which all computation of time proceeded, was the twenty- 
fifth; that is, the last day of the eighteenth month, and therefore 
of the whole year. At least this was the case every four years. The 
Mayas therefore reckoned how many days had elapsed since this day 
as the zero point. The years which followed a year closing with 
Ahau quite properly began with Imix, the first day of the series ; the 
others, with Cimi," Chuen, and Cib (according to my notation 3, 
8, 13). It would be interesting if we could discover anything to 
indicate that these three days had once been of especial importance 
(see, for instance. Codex Cortesianus, pages 13b to 18b, where four 
rows, of 52 successive days begin with these very four days, each row 

with one of them). 

New light is now also thrown on number 3. From this starting 
point of Si chronology, this last day of the year beginning with Cib, 
ihe period of 24 years then beginning (which was also the period of 
15 apparent Venus years) was always computed. The fourth ahau, 
for instance, began with the year 5 Imix, and each ahau in the same 
Avay with this first day until everything was displaced by the intro- 
duction of the 17 days. It looks like a modification of this abrupt 
change that in the place of Imix, " maize bread ", its synonym, Kan, 
" maize kernel ", was used, the two glyphs occurring countless times 
closely connected in the manuscript. 

Wliile the first three points are thus explained by my theory of a 
correction in the calendar, the other three may be explained by an 



KOESTEMANN.] MAYA CHRONOLOGY 477 

idea Avliich Doctor Seler communicated to me in a letter of December 
21, 1890. He wrote to me that in his opinion the years in the Dres- 
den codex did not begin with Kan, Muhic, Ix, and Cauac, but with 
Akbal, Lamat, Ben, and Ezanab; according to the corrected calen- 
dar, therefore, the last days of the year must be Ik, Manik, Eb, 
and Caban. But Kan, etc., still rank as the principal days, and the 
years are designated by the first principal day encountered in them. 
For instance, they are distinctly prominent as principal days in 
Codex Cortesianus, pages 3a to 6a ; Troano codex, pages o3c to 32c and 
23 to 20, and Dresden codex, pages 9b and 29c, 

New light next falls on number 4. The day XIII 20 (Akbal), 
wherein the highest week-day number is connected with the last 
day of the series, is nothing more than the new year's day of the year 
1 Kan. These periods of 91 days, therefore, arranged in groups of 
four, are the 4X^1 days which, following the day XIII Akbal, 
make up the year 1 Kan, as, for instance, in the Dresden codex on 
pages 32 and 64. In the series to be found on the latter page the sig- 
nificance of the solar year is quite apparent, emphasized by the 
singularly elaborated sign of the zero in the fourth and the eighth 
terms of the series ; that is, at the close of the first and of the second 
years. 

As Doctor Seler himself writes me, number 5 can also be simply 
explained. For the Dresden codex, pages 25 to 28, does not treat of 
the last two days of the year, but far more naturally of the last day of 
the old and the first day of the new year. I must leave it to Doc- 
tor Seler to establish his vieAV by discussion of the pictures and 
glyphs. 

Lastly, number 6 also presents a more satisfactory aspect. For now 
III 2; 13, 3d month is no longer called 3 Chicchan which is followed 
by the thirteenth day of the third month, but far more simply 3 Chic- 
chan which is the thirteenth day of the third month. The normal 
date ly Ahau, 8, 18th month therefore really falls on the eighth day 
of the eighteenth month and, in fact, as I have always believed, in 
the year 9 Ix, which, however, according to the new theory began 
with 8 Ben. 

The next step is to attempt further conquests in this realm of 
glyphs, starting from this firm basis of numbers and computations, 
and the first thing to be done is to search for pictures which express 
the conceptions of year, the change to a new year, the beginning of 
the year, and the close of the year. As the serpent pictures have an 
undeniable reference to periods of time, so the most perfect symbol 
for the year, it seems to me, is a serpent forming a closed ring. Such 
a serpent is found in Codex Cortesianus, page 3a, and inscribed 
within it the numeral 18, which I am inclined to interpret as mean- 
ing the eighteen months. Likewise in Codex Cortesianus, pages 



478 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

4a, 5a, and 6a we always encounter a serpent with the 18 inscribed 
within its ring, so that these four leaves readily suggest the four 
kinds of years. 

So, too, I believe I have found a very perfect picture of the change 
of years in Dresden codex, page 68, above on the left, in the two fig- 
ures of gods leaning back to back and sitting on a series of astronomic 
signs, arranged almost like the roof and wall of a house. But this 
picture belongs to a large section, which begins on page 65 and ends 
on the left side of page 69. I must here dwell more particularly on 
this section than I could in my Erlauterungen (Dresden, 1886). 

The real nucleus of this section consists of four rows of 91 days 
each, that is, of a year, of which the detailed explanation is found in 
six rows of glyphs and twenty-six pictures. Now, believing that I 
can complete the top row, which is almost wholly obliterated, from 
the still existing remnants, I read these four rows as follows : 

9 XII, 5 IV, 1 V, 10 II, 6 VIII, 2 X, 11 VIIL 7 II, 3 V, 12 IV, 8 XII, 4 
III, 13 III. 

11 I, 13 I, 11 XII, 1 XIII, 8 VIII, 6 I, 4 V, 2 VII, 13 VII, 6 XIII, 6 VI, 
8 I, 2 III. 

11 XI, 13 XI, 11 IX, 1 X, 8 V, 6 XI, 4 II, 2 IV, 13 IV, 6 X, 6 III, 8 XI, 
2 XIII. 

9 IX, 5 I, 1 II, 10 XII, 6 V, 2 VII, 11 V, 7 XII, 3 II, 12 I, 8 IX, 
4 XIII, 13 XIII. 

The study of these four rows shows that the end of each one of them 
can again be very well joined to its own beginning, and also that a 
good connection occurs between the end of the fourth and the be- 
ginning of the third, and likewise between the end of the second and 
the beginning of the first, also vice versa between the end of the third 
and the beginning of the fourth, and between the end of the first and 
the beginning of the second. But the second and third rows, on the 
contrary, stand in no such connection. 

We further see that the final point of the first two rows is a day III, 
that of the last two a day XIII. AVliat is more natural than to think 
of the two days III 2 and XIII 20, which are of such great impor- 
tance on pages 62 to 64? Our section, pages 65 to 69, then appears 
like an introduction to pages 62 to 64 and one part of our manu- 
script is again made to harmonize with another. 

Each row is, as Ave see, divided into 13 periods of time, whose 
average duration is 7 days; the four rows therefore form 52 periods 
of time. Now, we find 26 pictures on these pages ; the half of these 
periods of time is apparently without a picture. Thirteen of the 
pictures are between the second and third row and 13 below the 
fourth, but this probably has reference only to the symmetric arrange- 
ment of the pages. 



FOESTEMANN.] MAYA CHRONOLOGY ' 479 

It further appears that if we begin at the top with the first row 
and advance to the second, but begin at the bottom, on the other 
hand, with the fourth and join it to the third, both rows proceed quite 
in the same waj^, and the intervening spaces between the separate days, 
designated by Arabic numerals, are found to be precisely the same. 
Thus, therefore, the 26 pictures, in certain circumstances, might hold 
good for both rows, that is, for all the 52 periods, although the 
starting points are different. Still I am inclined to think that the 
pictures as well as the glyphs all refer to the two lower rows only; 
that is, to the more important of the two days, XIII 20. 

Now, on page 65 at the beginning (the left) of the lowest row 
of glyphs we have 9 Kan. Is not this the year here meant, which, 
moreover, is perhaps not by accident the middle one of a katun 
beginning with 9 Ix? For, as I have set forth in the Compte 
rendu of the Congress of Americanists at Berlin, page 742, the begin- 
ning of the Maya chronology seems to lie in the year 9 Ix. But 
the day XIII 20 is the first day of the eleventh month in the year 9 
Kan (according to the new theory making 9 Kan the second day of 
the year) ; this would be the beginning of the fourth row. If we 
continue to count with the differences 9, 5, 1, etc., in this fourth row, 
it ends with the twelfth day of the fifteenth month, and the third 
row begins with the third day of the sixteenth month. The ninth 
member of this third row would be the twenty-first day of the 
eighteenth month, the tenth the second day of the first month; that 
is, the day 10 Muluc, which gives the name to the new year. And 
precisely in this place, page 68, above on the left, we find that Janus 
picture. To make the meaning of this still more clear there are two 
characters above the gods strongly resembling a horizontal 8 (oo ) (g, 
figure 109). I think this is the hieroglyphic abbreviation for two 
contiguous serpents, that is, two years; and among the glyphs above 
them, the first in the top line is nothing more than the graphic- 
ally abbreviated repetition of the two persons leaning against each 
other (/, figure 109). But to the right of this we find a very com- 
posite glyph, one part of which again \erj closely resembles the 
horizontal 8, h. I hope that we are standing on a firm basis. 
Indeed, even the preceding ninth picture (page 67, above on the 
right) may be an allusion to the close of the year; it is a striding- 
god, at whose feet lies a little deity apparently inclosed in a sack. 
Therefore this may represent the old year and the j^oung year which 
has not yet crept out of its shell. 

It seems evident to me that this new year is a Muluc year from the 
continuously pouring rain of the tenth to the thirteenth pictures, 
as well as from the storm or lightning beast and its attendant in 
picture 11, known to us particularly from the Dresden codex, pages 



480 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

44 to 45 (see Seler's article in this journal, 1888, pages 68 and 69 of 
the special reprint) . 

Two pictures occurring in this place can also be seen in another 
passage of this manuscript. First, we find the two figures seated 
back to back on page 22, on the lower right, as the last of the upper 
row of glyphs. Here is more distinctly to be seen than in the passage 
just mentioned that instead of heads they have two half (rising or 
setting) suns. I can not positively assert that there is a reference 
here to a new year, since I have not succeeded thus far in under- 
standing the calendar date of the beginning of the various tonala- 
matls of the manuscript (which would be a very important step 
in advance). A single, apparently quite naked, person of this form 
often appears in the manuscript; for instance, there is one on page 
58 on the right, and even with head downward, together with a 
Venus sign, on pages 5Tb and 58b. If this should not be intended 
to represent persons, but cloud pictures behind which a star rises or 
sets, my interpretation in regard to the new year would not be 
affected. I may add that Doctor Seler, in his Charakter der Maya- 
Handschriften, page 9 of the special reprint, really regards them as 
rejoresentations of human beings. 

We might compare the picture on the left of the page 33c with the 
deity inclosed in a sack; but Ave must observe that Doctor Seler 
(Charakter der Maya-Handschriften, page 88 of the special reprint), 
probably correctly, takes this to be a hollow in a tree (the cloud tree). 
I am inclined to see another kind of designation for the close of 
the year on page 53, below, of the Dresden manuscript, to which I 
must here confine myself. There we see a dead woman suspended 
by a rope, which is fastened to astronomic signs. Above her are 
eight glyphs arranged in groups of four in two perpendicular rows. 
The third glyph in the second row has in the middle the same 8- 
shaped figure, but this time in a perpendicular position. I take the 
sign attached to the right of this to be the abbreviated glyph for the 
west or the Ix year (see Schellhas, Die Maya-Handschrift zu Dres- 
den, 1886, page 70) ; but the one added on the left, it seems to me, 
IS not the expected sign for the north, but a human arm, as if it were 
an allusion to the hanged woman. Is not the hanging figure intended 
for the water goddess Xnuc, and the whole meant to represent the 
death or end of a Muluc year, the beginning of an Ix year? It is 
probably meant for 13 Muluc and 1 Ix, but this is not absolutely cer- 
tain, especially as the periodic series, which is singularly composed of 
54X177, 9X148, and 6X178 days, still puzzles me greatly (see 
another conception of the hanged woman in Schellhas, same place, 
page 45). 

In the two passages which have been discussed more in detail, 
pages 68 and 53, we see the sign resembling an co , and this we must 



pOestemann.] MAYA CHRONOLOGY 481 

consider further. On page 2b, on the left, we find it very distinct as 
the headdress of a god, but whether here, too, it has reference to the 
new year is uncertain. In other passages I believe that the sign g^ 
figure 109, is a mere abbreviation of it, as on page 38a on the right. 
There ^^. picture represents the god with the serpent's tongue hold- 
ing the sign Kan in his hand; above is the usual glyph of the god, 
and above this a composite sign. A/ that is, the character referred 
to here, with the usual dots that signify movement or progression; 
to the left of it is the sign for the east, the Kan year. Does this sig- 
nify the end of a Kan year ? Then, on page 41b, on the right, below, 
IS the picture of a new god (the god of the new year?), apparently 
being carved out of a tree. The first among the glyphs is that of 
the west, probably combined with the sign for the close of the year, 
which we shall meet with later (the pile of stones on wdiich the image 
of the god is being erected). Again, on page 52b, where, 1,034 days 
before the picture of the hanged woman, we see i as the first glyph. 
To this belongs a heraldic figure below, beneath astronomic signs, of 
which the left side is colored yellow and the right side black, and 
which bears the sign for the sun in the center. It is not improbable 
that this, too, may mean the new" year, since there is a niargin of 178 
days, which would warrant it, but more than that can not be asserted. 

B.ere I would like to point out another sign, which perhaps, like 
the preceding one, originated from the serpent, and therefore perhaps 
also refers to the year. I mean the spiral, or snail-shell line, k. 
We encounter it on page 29c both in the middle picture and in the 
one on the right. In the former we find it in the water, at the foot 
of a black divinity ; beside it, the sign kan, over which lies an alliga- 
tor. Among the glyphs above we see the abbreviation for the east 
(the Kan year) ; on the right above it, the entire sign for the west. 
Concerning the god seated on the right (the same as the one with the 
serpent's tongue, only white here), we observe over his head the sign 
kan and a fish above that; in his right hand, a bird's feather; in his 
left, the spiral, combined with the abbreviated glyph for the west 
and south. Among the glyphs above is that of the south in both full 
and in abbreviated form. 

This group is continued on page 30c, where the god, at whose feet 
there is an animal, holds a spear in his left hand, point downward; 
directly above it we find our spiral combined with the abbreviated 
glyphs for the west and south. Among the glyphs above we again 
find those for the west and south. 

These three pictures, however, are preceded by a fourth, which 
completes the whole row. Here- the god is in a boat; close by his head 
is the picture of a bird's head ; among the glyphs above we find that 
7238— No. 28—05 31 



482 BUEEAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull.' 28 

of the north; the spiral is absent. For the rest, there is an inter- 
val of 16 days between each picture and the next one. 

Let me note incidentally that this passage 29c to 30c is directly 
connected with 29b to 30b, possibly with 29a to 30a, which may help 
us to find a solution ; but this is not the place for further details. 

In close proximity to this group, on pages 33 to 35b, we find the 
spiral in a second group, which here, as well as in the other, forms the 
end of a row of a tonalamatl. On each of these pages on the left sits 
the same god in the jaws of a coiled serpent. In the circle formed by 
the serpent there is water, and in the water invariably the numeral 19 
(see the 18 in the passage from Codex Cortesianus, which we took as 
our starting point) . The glyphs above invariably contain the spiral 
with the numeral 9 before it. I have spoken of the series of days 
belonging to this passage in my Erlauterungen, page 57. 

We began with the serpent and have insensibly returned to it. I 
will here'also mention page 56b, where, as the last glyph in the lowest 
row, we find one which consists of the abbreviated sign for the south 
and a serpent. This is the same series in Avhich we find the woman 
hanged by the neck, and it is 3,484 days after the period of time to 
which that refers. If I am right above in determining that period of 
time then this refers to a year 10 Cauac, and Cauac certainly corre- 
sponds to the south. 

It may further be mentioned here that the serpent often occurs as a 
head ornament, as on page 9c on a god, and on pages 15b, 20a, and 23b 
on a woman. In the third of these four passages the glyphs are 
obliterated ; in the second the glyph of the woman is combined with 
the sign for the north ; in the two others I find nothing relating to a 
period of time. 

Here we leave the domain of the serpent and come to a wholly dif- 
ferent sign, which we can perhaps regard more definitely as a sign 
of the change of years, but never of the year itself. I mean the sign X 
or D(:-, the elements of which, according to Maya usage, may of course 
be placed vertically as well as horizontally beside each other. If this 
really indicates the change of years, then it is quite natural to find it 
combined generally with two glyphs of adjacent cardinal points. 
With Kan-Muluc Ave should expect to find east-north, etc. It must be 
said at once, however, that as a rule west-south is preferred, as if it 
were not at all essential to designate the particular cardinal points 
with exactness. So we find it in the center of page 27, where we 
might expect south-east. 

On page 18c we see it with these cardinal points as the glyph of 
a woman who carries the sign west-south on her back. The tona- 
lamatl to which it belongs begins Avith the normal day IV 17. If this 
day is really the normal date, the eighth day of the eighteenth month, 
then the picture may coincide exactly Avith ncAv year's day 10 Cauac, 



FORSTEMANN.] MAYA CHRONOLOGY 483 

for the series of days announces that 15 days have elapsed and that 33 
are yet to elapse. Here, too, the cardinal points, west-south, are 
appropriate. 

On the same page, 18a, at the top, a woman l)ears in her hands the 
signs for both cardinal points, above which our sign once more 
appears. The glyphs belonging to it are effaced, and nothing can be 
determined from the series of clays. 

The next page, 19c, again shows the signs west-south on the back of 
a woman, with our sign combined with these in the glyphs. 

Very peculiarly combined with the west and the sign cinii, but 
varying someAvhat from its usual form, it appears on page 8c in the 
first row of glyphs. 

We have still to consider pages 46 to 50, on which we should expect 
to find this sign before all, as here terrestrial and Venus years are 
made to accord. We find it at once on page 46 in the last place in the 
lowest line. The date 2, 17 month, ought to be here, but the writer 
lias placed the little cross between the two dots of the 2, possibly to 
indicate that a Venusi j^ear of 584 clays closes here. On the right of 
the same page the line before the last again begins with our sign, as if 
to join it to the passage already mentioned. If this belongs, as it 
seems to do, to the third roAv of calendar dates, then it certainly coin- 
cides with a transition from the Kan to the Muluc years. 

The next three pages lack this glyph, but on page 50 it occurs 
almost in the same place in which we found it on page 46 (on the 
right side, the first sign in the lowest row), here again combined with 
the glyj)hs for west and south Avhere the fifth Venus year has ex- 
pired concurrently with the eighth terrestrial year, although not 
exacth?^ at the close of the latter. 

So much for the cross between two dots. The dot between two 
crosses, which also occurs, seems, on the contrary, not to belong here. 
One dot with one cross might easily be an abbreviation for the 
immeral 20. 

We now come to another sign for year, but which is, as I must 
state at once, that for the old official year of 360 cla3^s, which does not 
include the 5 unlucky days intercalated at its close. I mean the 
glyph Z, which sometimes has three clots as a suffix, sometimes with 
other appendices. I shall in future call it the '360 sign for the sake of 
brevity. 

Turning next to pages 25 to 28 of the manuscript, which assuredly 
treat of the change of j^ears, we find this sign on each of them below 
on the left, instead of the pile of stones on which the gods of the year 
were placed at the close of the year. It also occurs on every page in 
the row of glyphs which divides the second section from the third, 
even twice on page 27. It appears also in the partially obliterated 
upper lines of pages 26 to 28, on page 26 actually three times, once 



484 BUREAU OP AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

with the sign Ix as a prefix, and once with Caiiac, and this particular 
page treats of the transition from Ix to the Cauac years, Tims the 
meaning of the sign seems here sufficiently established. 

Let us now turn to page 50. Here we find once more the same fig- 
ure as the second sign in the first line of calendar dates, with a pre- 
fix which signifies the number 20 and a somewhat unintelligible 
superior affix. The whole must mean, as I have already stated in my 
Erlauterungen (1886), page 12, the twentieth day of the eighteenth 
month, the official close of the year. This is another confirmation of 
my theory. 

There is certainly a reason, although it is still unknown to me, why 
this 360 sign agrees wholly or almost Avholly with the glyph for the 
sixteenth month, often rendering it difficult to decide with which 
one of the two we have to deal. In my Erlauterungen I still con- 
founded the two and besides confused them with a third sign, which 
I will now discuss. 

According to the Maya numeral system the number 360 is the unit 
of the third degree; that of the fourth is 7,200. May not this also, 
that is, the period of 20 official years, be represented among the 
glyphs? I think I recognize this glyph in an expansion of the 360 
sign, m. We will call this figure the 7,200 sign. 

In order to establish this theory we next turn to page 58. In its 
lower half, on the left, a series of 11,958 (more exactly 11,960) days 
closes Avith a most striking picture. Above this picture stand ten 
glyphs in the following order : 



1 


6 


2 


7 


3 


8 


4 


9 


5 


10 



The middle signs, according to position 3 and 8, are the sun and 
moon, but the middle ones in the series of numbers, 5 and 6, are the 
7,200 and 360 signs, the former provided with a 1 (or a 20, if we 
so read the 1 with a little cross under it) , the latter with a 13. But the 
Maya figures for 11,958, the number belonging here, are 1, 13, 3, 18. 
Nothing, I think, could be more natural than to recognize the signs 
for 7,200 and 13X3^>0=4,680 in the two glyphs. Together this would 
be 11,880. I can not yet determine whether the remaining signs indi- 
cate the 78 which are lacking to the sum total. 

Let us next consider page 61, with its two rows of glyphs running 
from the top to the bottom. The fifth line from below is here formed 
by the 7,200 sign with the number 15 and the 360 sign with the num- 
ber 9. Taken together, this would signify 111,240 days. More num- 
bers from the lines above and below should doubtless be added, but 



F5RSTEMANN.] MAYA CHRONOLOGY 485 

we can not determine which because we do not know in what relation 
the whole stands to the preceding row (on the right) or to any of the 
other numbers. We may conjecture that the glyph standing below 
the 7,200 sign, consisting of the day Chuen with prefix and suffix and 
the anterior 1, is meant for the month of 20 days. The Chuen sign 
would not be wholly inappropriate for this signification, as it begins 
the second half of a month beginning with Imix and thus, as the mid- 
dle of it, it represents in a certain sense the whole month. Below the 
360 sign, however, we see the sun, kin, with a suffix and a prefixed 3. 
This would indicate that kin, in the sense of " day ", ends the whole 
number, as yet unknown to us, with three units. Such a number be- 
longs indeed to the most important day of this part of the manuscript, 
the day XIII 20, for the day 17 (Ahau) always corresponds to a 
number ending with 0. 

On the same page, 61, in the same vertical row, the sixth line frcun 
the top again forms our 7,200 and 360 signs, the latter forming part 
of a face and accompanied by an 8. Here again we at least recognize 
that these two belong together. 

As I have proved the parallelism of the two sections in my essay 
Zur Entzitferung der Maya Handschriften, II, we may expect to find 
in the last part of the manuscript (pages 69 to 73) something analo- 
gous to that which we have encountered in this section. Thus on i^age 
69 we find the same two vertical rows of glyphs and in them again, in 
the fifth line from below, the 7,200 and 360 signs, the former again 
with 15, the latter again with 9 ; below them, the chuen sign, this time 
with 4, and the kin sign, this time again with 4. We are justified 
therefore in surmising some large number ending with 4, such as the 
principal day of this section, the day IX 11, really ought to have, if 
we begin once more at Ahau=0. 

Glancing carelessly farther up the same page we not merely find 
there our two signs, but we also recognize that the upper 16 gljq^lis 
drawn in a blue field correspond exactly to those on page 61, save for 
slight variations and the substitution for the Moan head of a sign of 
similar meaning often used in its stead. 

The association of the glyphs for 7,200 and 360 days is not a pecu- 
liarity of the Dresden codex; it also extends to the inscriptions on 
stone, Avhich differ so widely from the manuscripts. The inscription 
on the Cross at Palenque contains the two in close proximity almost a 
dozen times, the one beside or below the other. 

Where the two signs do not occur in such immediate proximity the 
matter becomes uncertain from the fact of the almost perfect simi- 
larity of the 360 sign to that for the month of Pax. I therefore leave 
the latter quite out of the question. For the 7,200 sign I refer to 
page 24, first column ; page 70, third column, third sign from the bot- 



486 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

torn ; page 73, at the top, second column from the right. It occurs in 
specially large dimensions on page 60b, which is executed in a unique 
manner. But I will abstain here from making more remarks, though 
many suggest themselves, in order not to build farther on a founda- 
tion whicli might give way under our feet. 

In order to proceed I must premise the observation that the whole 
front side of Codex B (pages 46 to 60) now seems to me to be closely 
interconnected, the wholly isolated, peculiarly enigmatic page 60 
forming the conclusion. We know now that pages 46 to 50, the first 
third of this whole, is a continuation of page 24. It treats of the 
agreement of the apparent Venus year of 584 days with the solar, or 
terrestrial, year of 365 days. This is done in three sections, each of 
which treats of 13 times 8 terrestrial years or 5 Venus years ; that is, 
13 times 2,920 days, equal to 37,960 days or two katuns or 104 years. 

The second section (pages 51 to 58) correspondingly treats of 104 
apparent Mercury years of 115 days; that is, the period of 11,960 
days. 

Thus prepared, let us turn to the upper half of page 52, beginning 
with the fourth column. Here, at the very top, we find another calen- 
dar date, unfortunately partially obliterated, and beneath it, com- 
bined again in the manner that I pointed out when discussing pages 
61 and 69, the Chuen sign and the 360-day sign, the former combined 
with 1, the latter with 5. According to my suggestion, this would 
signify 1,820=7X260. It might be explained by the illegible date 
above, but it may refer to the seven quite identical columns of daj^s on 
the left, each 260 days apart from the next ones, thus affording a 
slight confirmation of my theory. 

But directly below it we see the sign n, that is, Imix with a mark 
above it which looks like a union, a tying together, perhaps a variant 
of the sign composed of the rattles of the rattlesnake, which often 
seems to indicate a period of time. I take this to be the sign of the 
katun (52X365=18,980 days) , the period at the end of wdiich each day 
(here represented by the former initial day Imix) once more returns 
to the same position in the year. In this passage, therefore, there is 
reference to two katuns, the very period of time which w^e found to 
be the subject of pages 46 to 50. Below this sign we find a red 13 
repeated 1 3 times. This can only mean that the two katuns are to be 
divided into 13 parts, each of which, therefore, as on pages 46 to 50, 
contains 2,920 days. The 104 terrestrial years are here placed close 
beside the 104 Mercury years. I think there can be no delusion about 
this. This presumptive discovery of the katun sign seems to find 
confirmation close by, in the first column of page 51. Here we read 
at the top the two calendar dates IV 17 ; 8, 18th month and XII 5, and 
below them the group in o. 



FORSTEMANN.] ' MAYA CHRONOLOGY 



487 



The, 8 with the kin beneath it may denote the 8 days which have 
elapsed between IV 17 and XII 5; but it may rather (for it quite 
accords Avith Maya usage to have one number refer to several signs) 
belong to the katun sign, for tlie following reasons: 

The point of departure in the Mercury series (which I regarded as 
a Saturn series in my Erlauterungen) is the day XII 5. This date 
occurs with two numbers: 1,412,848, that is, year 6 Mnluc; 1, 15th 
month, on page 52 ; and 1,578,988, that is, year 6 Kan ; G, 18th month, 
on page 51. The first of the two large numbers occurs 166,140 days 
before the second, but the lirst date occurs 30 years 65 days = 14,300 
days before the second. If we add to this 14,300 the number 151,840, 
that is, 8 katuns, the result is actually 166,140, and to that this group 
of signs seems to me to point. 

I merely allude in passing to the fact that this Ivatun sign also 
occurs in the columns on pages 61 and 69 discussed above close beside 
the other glyphs referring to a period of time. 

If we look more closely at the passage on page 61 just mentioned, 
Ave find directly above the katun sign a new glyph not yet men- 
tioned, f. 

We will now look at the last column but one on the upper half of 
page 73. The uppermost sign is destroyed. Then follow the katun 
sign, the new sign, the 7,200 sign, and the number 34,732. 

Now, everything seems to point to the probability that the new 
sign is the ahau sign of the value 24X365=8,760. Let us now add 
the three numbers : 

18, 980 
8, 760 
7, 200 



34, 940 



It all refers to the day IV 9. But this occurs 208 days before the 
normal date IV 17, and to it therefore rightly belongs a —208, and 
34,940—208 is really 34,732. 

In the lower part of the third column of page 70 are five signs, one 
above the other. The first of these is the ahau sign (of 8,760 days) ; 
the third, the 7,200 sign; and the fifth, the 360 sign. We are 
prompted to seek the meaning of the second and fourth. 

Glyph q shows us the second sign. It is the Chicchan head, with 
a prefix, probably phallic, which we know as an element of the 
months Yaxkin and Yax, of the sign for the south, etc. Noav, when 
we see that the same Chicchan head, with the same prefix, also occurs 
on page 61, in the middle of the first column, and on page 69, in 
the middle of the third colunm, in a connection, too, quite similar 
to this one on pages 21c and 23b, but in very diiferent surroundings, 



488 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

we readily reach the conchision that here, too, a period of time is 
meant. We find this combination nowhere else in onr manuscript. 
It now becomes probable that the period of time which we are seek- 
ing must have a close connection with the above-mentioned supposed 
ahau, for in this place we see the phallic prefix divided into two parts 
and furnished with two marks above it. Might it not therefore 
mean one-third of the ahau, that is, 2,920 days, that important period 
of 8 terrestrial or 5 Venus years Avhich plays so great a part on pages 
24 and 46 to 50 ? If we turn to those pages we find the sign /■. 

The figure on the forehead seems to be only an abbreviation of the 
prefix, seen, as it Avere, from the other side. The passages in ques- 
tion are on page 24, second column above the middle; page 49, fourth 
column, in the middle; and page 50, on the left below. I find it 
nowhere else. We might perhaps mention that the Chicchan head, as 
Doctor Schellhas states in his Die Maya-Handschrift (1886), page 
64, belongs to the picture of a serpent on page 35b, but has different, 
somewhat indistinct, prefixes and suj^erior affixes. The windings 
of the serpent run in five different directions, and on its- body are 
8 spots resembling bosses? Can this be an allusion to the 5 Venus 
and 8 terrestrial years. This might be going too far. Suffice it to 
say that there are some reasons for thinking that we have really the 
period of 2,920 days before us, 

A glance at page 31a shows us how all these last-mentioned signs 
belong together. There is the number 2,804,100 in the second column 
from the right. Above this there must have been six signs. The 
two upper ones are effaced ; then follows a trace of Imix, probably 
the katun sign with a number before it; then, a very much stained 
glyph, perhaps the 2,920 sign just discussed; and last, but quite 
plain, the 8,760 and the 7,200 signs. The destruction or indistinctness 
of the uppermost signs is especiall}^ to be regretted here, as in all 
probability these signs stood in the closest relation to the large num- 
ber before mentioned. 

So much for the second of the five signs below on page 70. I will 
now hazard a modest conjecture in regard to the fourth as well. It 
has the form s. 

It probably originated in a bird's head. In place of the eye we 
find a figure which looks almost exactly like the 360 sign. The lines 
beneath it strongh^ resemble those in the Imix katun sign. Now, 
this fourth sign occurs between the third, the old ahau of 20X300, 
as it were (an ahau of 20 years has actually been found in the original 
sources) , and the fifth, the old year of 360 days. Now, nothing seems 
more natural than that the fourth sign should likewise refer to the 
ancient computation of time, and it is easy to suppose this to be an 
ancient katun=52X360= (72X260). According to this supposition. 



FOKSTE.MANX.] MAYA CHRONOLOGY 489 

by no means positivel}' asserted, but merely suggested, tlie five signs 
sliould liave tlie foIIo^ying values of time : 

8,760 = 1 ahau = 24 X 3G5 
2,920 = i ahau = 8 X 3G5 =:' 5 X 584 
7,200 = 1 old ahau = 20 X 360 
18,720 = 1 old katun = 52 X 360 = 72 X 260 
360 = 1 old year 



37,960 = 2 katuns (2 X 52 X 365 = 2 X 73 X 260) 

The period of 2 katuns, however, has often proved very impor- 
tant ; for instance, on pages 46 to 50. It is also divisible by the Venus 
year of 584 daj^s, which is not the case witli 1 katun. 

It should not seem ver}^ surprising that the old designations, which 
must have been already hallowed by use, were not discarded after the 
introduction of the year of 365 days, and the ahau of 24 3'ears. A 
greater variet}^ of glyphs enhanced the mysterj^ of writing and the 
awe with which the priests were regarded. 

But here I pause. Above the five signs just now under discussion 
there are four others arranged in pairs. 

I have already expressed the opinion that these signs signifj^ a 
period of not less than 652 katuns and have tried to give grounds for 
this view, but it must rest on a firmer foundation before I can pro- 
mulgate it. I have perhaps already advanced more than Avill admit 
of proof. 



THE TIME PERIODS OF THE MAYAS 



E. FORSTEMAlSTJSr 



491 



THE TIME PERIODS OF THE MAYAS 



By E. FORSTEMANN 



Nature suggested onl}^ periods of 20 days to the Maya, because 
these they could count on their fingers and toes, in four divisions of 
five each. From this the representation in writing of all numbers up 
to 20 followed as a matter of course. 

The second thing they observed was that the sun, and with it the 
vegetation, returned to its former condition after about eighteen of 
such 20-day periods. From this resulted the most ancient solar year, 
consisting of 360 days, which in later periods was always preserved 
by the exceptional position of the 5 intercalary. days, but soon ceased 
to be practically employed. 

Upon this is based the numeral system which was subsequently in 
use, in wliich the unit of the second degree is 20 and that of the third 
degree 360. That of the fourth degree (7,200) and that of the fifth 
(144,000) had little or no relation to the actual year, and were prob- 
ably added later without regard to the length of the year, although 
the fourth degree may have given rise to the erroneous statement that 
the Mayas counted by ahaus of 20 years. 

These various units were governed by various gods called " lords 
of the cycle"; see "Lord of the Cycle" in Thomas's -Study of the 
Manuscript Troano, page 29. We find the heads of these lords of 
the cycles of 144,000, 7,200, 300, and 20 days, for instance, at the 
beginning of the inscription on the Cross of Palenque (A and B, 
3 to 6), together with the glyphs representing these periods. The 
fifth period, the single day, has no head of a deity, but, quite appro- 
priately, only the instrument of numeration, a hand with its five 
fingers. The earliest of the inscriptions at Copan, given in Mauds- 
lay's book, contain similar figures, and these beginnings plainly give 
us the dates of the inscriptions. 

The Dresden codex shows a decided improvement on this method, 
inasmuch as the heads of the lords and the glyphs are omitted as 



" Die Zeitperiodeh der Mayas, Globus, v. 63, n. 2, 1893. 

493 



494 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY ^ [bdll. 28 

superfluous, and, as with us, the value of the numbers is indicated by 
their position. This is also the case in Codex Peresianus, but I can 
not interpret the numbers, owing to the condition of the manuscript. 
In Codex Troano-Cortesianus we find only timid attempts at num- 
bers consisting, of many figures, as in the page which connects both 
parts and in the Troano codex, pages 20 to 23. 

' "When at last it became patent that 360 days by no means consti- 
tuted a full year the numeric system could not be changed, because 
a multiple of 20 was needed for the third degree ; but in order to be 
able to compute by years it was necessary to add to the length of the 
year. In all probability the number 364 was chosen because it is 
divisible by 4, and thus had a certain relation to the four cardinal 
points and to everything connected with them in mythology. 

Many portions of the Dresden codex are based upon this year of 
4X91 clays, most distinctly on pages 65 to 69, as I have shown in 
the Zeitschrift fiir Ethnologic, 1891, page 144. To it also pertain 
the series with the difference 91 on pages 31 to 32 and 63 to 64. The 
number 364, however, is not only 4X91, but also 28X13, and this 
seems to liaA^e given rise to the custom of dividing the year into periods 
of 13 days each, just as the period of 20 days was a natural division 
of the 360-day year. I or nature does not seem to have furnished 
the number 13, unless the most important parts of the human body, 
perhaps the ten fingers, together with eye, ear, and mouth, might have 
suggested it. Otherwise, there may have been a mythologic basis 
(13 heavens?) for the number 13. 

There may have been a time when they wavered between the 360- 
and the 364-day year, and consequently between the periods of 20 and 
of 13 days. In order to meet the difficulties arising from this, it 
was necessary to introduce a period which could be divided by both 20 
and 13 days. Thus doubtless originated, not among the people, but 
among the priesthood, the sacred tonalamatl of 260 days, which had 
no connection with the duration of either the one or the other year. 
I believe that I have found a glyph which represents the tonal- 
amatl, combined with the figure 8, in the inscription of the Cross of 
Palenque, C, 2. The days of the 20-day period were then designated 
by their already established glyphs and those of the later 13-day 
period by merely adding numbers; thus 260 different characters for 
days were easily obtained, just as they are in the Aztec, which there- 
fore thus far agrees both with the method of the Mayas and with that 
of the Kiches. 

The need must now have been felt of bringing these periods of 

260 davs into accord with the year, and particularly with the old 

year of 360 days. For this a period of 4,680 days would have been 

sufficient, in which the tonalamatl is repeated 18 times, the 360 days 

. 13 times, that is, a period in Avhich the 13-day period recurs 360 times. 



FOESTEMANN.] TIME PERIODS OF THE MAYAS 495 

But this period of 4,680 days seems never to have come into actual 
use; the triple of it, 14,040 days, having been preferred, a period 
which certainly lends itself with marvelous adaptability to an immense 
number of the most various divisions. Like 4,680, it is divisible by 
2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13. But it also admits of still more important 
divisions: (1) It is divisible by 13, and by the most diverse multiples 
of that number, 26, 39, 52, 65, 78, etc.; (2) it may be divided by 20 
and by its multiples 40, 60, 120, 180; (3) it is divisible by 18, the 
number of the so-called months of the year, and by several of its 
multiples, as 36 and 54. 

It is, of course, equal to 54 X 260-day and 39 X 360-day periods. It, 
therefore, properly forms the very nucleus of the last section of the 
Dresden manuscript and appears conspicuously large in the right- 
hand column of page 73 with its Maya ciphers : 

1 
19 

0. 

From this column proceed two rows of figures, one of which has the 
diiference 65 ; that is, a fourth of 260, a two-hundred-and-sixteenth of 
14,040; the other increases hj 54, the triple of 18, which is the two- 
hundred-and-sixtieth part of 14,040. 

14,040 is also concealed elsewhere in the same manuscript. Thus on 
page 24, at the bottom of the left-hand column, there are three dates, 
of which the right-hand one is 11,960 days distant from the middle 
one, and the middle one 2,200 clays from the left-hand one. There- 
fore the two extreme dates represent together 14,160 days, or, bearing 
in mind the intervals of days belonging to them, I Ahau and IV 
Ahau, 14,040 days from each other. 

It is well known that pages 46 to 50 are closely connected with this 
passage. It need not seem surprising, therefore, that 14,040 can here, 
tpo, be obtained by computation, as I may hereafter be able to demon- 
strate. Thus the ends of the periods recorded in the first serpent also 
have the difference 14,040 (see my treatise Zur Entzifferung der 
Mayahandschriften, II). Hence the period of 14,040 days must have 
been of the utmost importance before the introduction of the year 
of 365 days, and was doubtless designated by a word, which we 
unfortunately do not know. 

It was presently discovered that the solar year actually consists of 
365 days, and an attempt was at once made to harmonize it with the 
tonalamatl of 260 days. The well-known katun^73 tonalamatls or 
52 solar years= 18,980 days was thus obtained, a period after the 
expiration of which each day date again recurs in the same place in 
the year. In accordance with this, the katun seems to be expressed 



496 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETIINOLOGY [bull. 28 

by a glyph which contains a certain clay (Iraix) as its principal part, 
but as a superior affix a figure which expresses a tieing together. I 
have hazarded this conjecture in the Zeitschrift fiir Ethnologic, 1891, 
pages 152 and 153. The selection of Imix for this sign must there- 
fore have occurred at a time when Imix was accounted the first of the 
20 days. 

The creation of time periods did not cease here. The movement of 
the most conspicuous planet, Venus, was also taken into consideration, 
and it was found that its apparent revolution embraced a period of 
584 days. This had now to be harmonized with the newly discovered 
solar year, which could be easily done : 5X584=8X365=2,920. We 
find this latter number clearly indicated as the basis of the calcula- 
lations on page 24, as well as on pages 46 to 50 of the Dresden codex.. 
Then the Aztecs after every 8 solar years celebrated the greatest 
splendor of Venus, when Venus " smokes " (see Anales del Museo 
Nacional de Mexico, volume 2, 1882, page 342). As we saw above, 
the Mayas proceeded from 4,680 to its triple, 14,040, in order to obtain 
greater divisibility; so, too, they advanced from 2,920 to its triple, 
8,760, which is divisible by 3, 6, and 12. This is the ahau of 24 years 
of 365 days each, so often mentioned, virtually the principal period 
in Maya history. Here we are indebted to Cyrus Thomas, who, by his 
full investigation of the subject, laid the foundation for further re- 
search (see A Study of the Manuscript Troano, pages 28 to 58). 

Both the period of 2,920 and that of 8,760 days still had a defect. 
They did not harmonize with the tonalamatl of 260 days. The double 
l?;atun of 2X18,980=37,960 days, or 104 solar years, was therefore 
introduced, as we see it especially in the Dresden manuscript, pages 
46 to 50, where three such periods are computed, in each of which 260, 
365, and 584 are factors. 

The next task was to find a period in which both the ahau and the 
katun, as well as the revolution of Venus, that is, 8,760, 18,980, and 
584, are contained. Accordingly, the triple of the period just men- 
tioned, the double katun, was employed, which resulted in the ahau 
katun of 113,880 days=6 katuns=13 ahaus=195 Venus years=312 
solar years =43 8 tonalamatls. 

But the utmost perfection was attained in the period of 12 ahau 
katuns= 1,366,560 days, divisible not merely by tonalamatl=260, solar 
year=365, Venus year=584, ahau-=8,760, and katun=18,980 days, 
but also by 9, all important in Maya mythology, and hence by the old 
year of 360 days. This important period with the figures 


9 
16 





F5ESTEMANN.] TIME PEEIODS OF THE MAYAS 497 

occupies the first place among the large numbers in the Dresden 
codex on page 24, as 14,040 occupies the last place on page T3. The 
other large numbers in the Dresden codex, except those in the five 
serpents, are in strikingly close proximity to this high numfcer, just 
like the dates on the stelse at Copan. Thus we shall soon be able to 
determine all these numbers according to our computation of time, 
which will be a step of the greatest importance. Indeed, I believe 
that to all intents and purposes this step has already been taken in 
the ingenious exposition of Cyrus Thomas (see A Study of the Manu- 
script Troano, 1882, pages 187 to 197). 

The Aztecs do not seem to have been familiar with the great periods 
of 12X312 years just mentioned. According to the Anales del Museo 
Nacional de Mexico, volume 2, 1882, pages 347 and 349, they had a 
cycle of 10X104 years and the triple of it, lOX^^^lS years; therefore, 
here, too, multiples of 8 years were always employed. 

Apparently, side by side with this interconnected series of periods, 
there is another quite distinct one. It was noted that Mercury per- 
formed its apparent revolution around the sun in 115 days, and to 
reconcile this 115 with the tonalamatl of 260 days, is the task of the 
number adverted to, 11,960=104X115=46X260. The two dates on 
page 24 of the Dresden codex at the left below, I Ahau, 18, third 
month, and I Ahau, 18, seventeenth month, are this distance apart, 
and this interval also forms the basis of the wonderful series on 
pages 51 to 58. Thus, that which was only represented in brief on 
page 24 is carried out more fully on pages 46 to 50, and also on pages 
51 to 58. 

Yet this 11,960 is most curiously connected with the numbers before 
discussed. The double katun (37,960) has the same relation to 
11,960 that the solar year (365) has to the Mercury year (115), for 
both are multiples of 104, and have the ratio, therefore, of 73 to 23. 
Thus the two numbers are distant from one another by just 100 (a 
round number to us, but not to the Mayas) tonalamatls. Further, if 
we subtract from the double katun twice 11,960 (=23,920), the result 
is nothing more nor less than the remarkable 14,040. 

The apparent revolution of Mars, indeed, 'which, strange to say, 
comprises just 3 tonalamatls =780 days, seems to be the basis of the 
Dresden series, on pages 43 to 44 and 59, and that remarkable 14,040 
IS equal to 18 of these Mars years, while the 113,880 equals 146 of 
them. Here we must not, however, feel too secure. Jupiter and 
Saturn seem never to have been included in the computation at all, 
with their apparent revolutions of 397 and 380 days, respectively 
(between two superior conjunctions), which closely approximate the 
solar year. 

7238— No. 28—05 32 



498 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

Not until long after all I have thus far explained became clear to 
me did I recognize that the Mayas had also very naturally turned 
their attention to the period of the moon's revolution. The wonder- 
ful series on pages 51 to 58 of the Dresden codex, already mentioned, 
only arrives at the number 11,960 ; or, when we take into consideration 
that there are three day signs with every number, the highest number 
there is in reality only 11,958. This number, however, is arrived at 
because periods of 177, 148, and 178 days follow each other strangely 
mixed ; indeed, the 177 occurs fifty-four times, the 148 nine times, the 
178 six times. But now 

177=3X29+3X30 
148=2X29+3X30 
178=3x29+3x30+1 

The entire series, therefore, is constructed thus : 

54X177=162X29+162X30 = 9,558 
9X148= 18X29+ 27X30 = 1,332 
6X178= 18X29+ 18X30+6= 1,068 

198x29+207X30+6=11,958 

There is, I think, nothing more natural here than to see alternate 
months of 29 and 30 days, just as they alternated with the Greeks. 

The 198 months of the one kind and the 207 of the other together 
make 405 months. But if we divide 11,958 by this 405, we find the 
length of the moon's revolution as observed by the Mayas to be 29.526 
days. 

But the actual synodical revolution of the moon is 29.53 days. The 
Mayas, therefore, made it too short by only four-thousandths of a 
day; surely an amazing achievement. If they had employed merely 
the period of 177 days, the month would only have amounted to 29.5 
days; by the addition of the nine periods of 148 days, only to 29.512. 
The six periods of 178 days, containing the intercalary days, were 
thus quite essential in order to reach this singularly accurate result. 

Thus we see combined on pages 46 to 50 of the Dresden codex the 
revolutions of the sun and Venus and on pages 51 to 58 those of the 
moon and mercury, that is, the revolutions of the four heavenly bodies 
most conspicuous in their movements combined in pairs; on the one 
hand, the two slower ones, on the other, the two of swifter motion, but 
of comparatively less brilliancy. Page 59 may refer to the revolution 
of Mars alone, while page 60, the final page of this front side of Codex 
Vaticanus B, seems lastly, but in a way as yet unexplained, to con- 
dense, as it were, the entire contents of this section. Perhaps above 
we here see the contest between these heavenly bodies, and below the 
victory of the one over the other. 



THE MAYA GLYPHS 



E. FORSTElVIANlSr 



499 



THE MAYA GLYPHS 



By E. Forstemann 



FIEST PAPEE <» 

It is well for the traveler occasionally to cast a backward glance 
over the road upon which he is journeying, and the same holds good 
of the path along which science is advancing. From the vantage 
ground of that which has already been attained we can see more 
clearly what should be the next step and what is still to be attained. 
The wonderful hieroglyphs which occur on the stone monuments and 
in the ancient manuscripts of Guatemala, Chiapas, and Yucatan, 
which but a few decades ago were a perfect enigma, are to-day one 
after another becoming intelligible and call all the more for such a 
retrospective view because in them pre-Columbian America attained 
its highest state of culture. 

The birth year of the decipherment of these glyphs was 1863. 
In that year the Abbe Brasseur de Bourbourg discovered at Madrid 
the manuscript of the Kelacion de las cosas de Yucatan by Diego de 
Landa (bishop of Merida in Yucatan from 1573 to 1579), which he 
published in 1864. In this manuscript were found the signs of the 
numerals from 1 to 19, the twenty day signs of the 20-day period, and 
the eighteen signs of the periods of this kind which make up the year. 
All these signs, apart from numerous variants, were actually met with 
again on the inscriptions and in the manuscripts, so that by the dis- 
covery of this manuscript the corner stone was laid, and building 
could proceed. I do not wish further to discuss these glyphs here 
nor to copy them since they are the undisputed possession of science 
and have been reproduced in many places, for example, in my 
Erliiuterungen, published in 1886. No one will misconstrue my 
silence with regard to the so-called alphabet of Diego de Landa. 

The next addition to this material was made in 1876 by Leon de 
Rosny in his Essai sur le dechiffrement de I'ecriture hieratique de 
I'Amerique centrale, in which we find interpreted the well-known 
signs which unquestionably denote the four cardinal points. This dis- 
covery was made simultaneously in America by Cyrus Thomas. 

In two of these four signs and in one of the eighteen signs of the 20- 
day periods was found the symbol for the sun, as if it were a matter of 



«Die Mayahieroglyphen, Globus, 1894, v. 60, n. 5, pp. 78-80. 



501 



502 BUREAIJ OF AMEETCAlSr ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

course, as Leon de Rosny himself acknowledged. The word for sim, 
kin, however, also denotes day, and it was proved, though somewhat 
later, that this sign is also used with the latter meaning. 

In the preface to my first edition of the Dresden manuscript (1880) 
I did not take occasion to express any opinion in regard to the meaning 
of the signs, and yet that very edition was a great stimulus to me and 
to others for further research. It was especially my acquaintance and 
subsequent collaboration (in person and by letter) with my friend Doc- 
tor Schellhas, of Berlin, that proved a source of manifold light to us 
both. Thus we soon found ourselves studying the sign in which 
Schellhas recognized the moon (and at the same time M. Pousse in 
the publications of the Societe Americaine), the period of 20 days. 
Both interpretations were correct. For, either the moon, being con- 
sidered dead during the period of new moon, was assumed to be alive 
only 20 days at a time, or the moon was conceived of as man, for in 
the Maya language " vinak " means both 20 and, from the number of 
fingers and toes, man. I was also on the point of finding a second 
symbol for 20 (Erlauterungen, page 12) which was positively recog- 
nized as such by Doctor Seler in 1887. 

It was a source of special satisfaction to me that in April, 1885, I 
was able to determine the sign for zero and soon afterward to dis- 
cover the way in which the Mayas expressed the higher numbers, so 
that they can now be read from zero up to millions. Upon this dis- 
covery is based the largest part of my later researches. 

Closely connected with this discovery was that of the glyph for 
the planet Venus, of the certainty of which we are constantly receiv- 
ing fresh proof. 

Having already communicated all these signs in the year 1886, in 
my Erlauterungen, I can omit them here to save space, only remark- 
ing that the attempt I made in that article to determine the signs for 
the rest of the planets seems to me now, as it did then, very uncertain. 

Two papers of Doctor Schellhas should have special mention here. 
Die Mayahandschrift der Koniglichen Bibliothek zu Dresden (1886, 
in the Berlin Zeitschrift fiir Ethnologic, page 12) and Die Gotter- 
gestalten der Mayahandschriften (1892, in the same journal, page 
101). As it is not necessary to speak here of the merits of these 
writings except so far as they are connected with the determination of 
glyphs, I merely mention that in these articles we find, first, four 
little signs interpreted beyond a doubt, which often appear as pre- 
fixes to other glyphs. The office of these prefixes is to place the 
glyphs in their respective relation to the four several cardinal points, 
thus making it unnecessary to use the actual signs of these mentioned 
above. But of much more importance is the second discovery due 
to the efforts of Doctor Schellhas, viz, that about twenty different 
glyphs are recognized as the designations of twenty different deities. 



FOKSTEMANN.] 



THE MAYA GLYPHS 



503 



Those occurring most freqiientlv were determined with absohite cer- 
tainty, the others with more or less probability. Schellhas how- 
ever, has not applied any of the traditional names to these gods but 
has simply designated them provisionally by letters, and m doing 
so he is riaht, for the Olympus of the Mayas and Aztecs has so many 
intersecting paths and byways that it is almost unavoidable not to 
go astray, especially since it is difficult to discriminate between the 
universal and the local deities. 

I am now comDelled to speak of myself. Since the appearance ot 
my Erlauterungen (1886), I have published eight different treatises 

on the Maya science : . -u -4^. 

1 Three essays entitled Zur Entzifferung der Mayahandschriften 
■]887 1891, 1892, in pamphlet form, which were at first only intended 
for private circulation. These will soon be followed by a fourth, 
which is to be presented to the Congress of Americanists at Stockholm. 






/ 




O /. O 




e(K> 



c^ c^ 



Pig. 110. Glyplis from the Dresden codex. 



m 



2 Zur Mava-Chronologie (1891) in the Zeitschrift fiir Ethnologie. 
3. The preface to my second edition of the Dresden manuscript 

(1892). 

4 Three articles in Globus, volume 63, number 2, and volume 65, 
numbers 1 and 15: Die Zeitperioden der Mayas, Zum mittelamer- 
ikanischen Kalender, and Die Plejaden bei den Mayas. 

As this material is so widely scattered, and as I still wish to speak 
of some signs not discussed in the above-mentioned articles, I will 
here give the form of a few glyphs which have been recently 
determined, omitting, for the sake of brevity, those which are still 
doubtful. As I have proceeded from the mathematic standpoint, 
these glyphs chiefly concern certain periods of time. 

The first (a, figure 110) is the sign for the year of 360 days, long 
since recognized as the sign of the 20-day period Pax. As such, how- 
ever, it generally appears with three balls added below, which, I am 
inclined to consider as a representation of the most conspicuous point 
in the celestial equator, the three stars in the belt of Orion, with 
which the sun is in conjunction in Pax. 



504 BUREAU OF AMERTCAISr ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

The second (b) represents the period of 20 years, 20X360=7,200 
days. Both these signs (with variants) are common to both manu- 
scripts and inscriptions. From the latter I give here for the first 
time two characters (in the form in which they occur on the Cross 
of Palenque) : Number 3 (c), the period of 20x7,200=1-14,000 days, 
and number 4 (d), the period of 20 days. To these I add from the 
manuscripts number 5 (e), the period of 52X365=18,980 days, after 
which each day recurs in the same place in the year. Hence this 
glyph is the day sign Imix, which is usually considered the first of 
the day signs, with the so-called rattlesnake ornament which here 
and in other cases, as I will incidentally remark, signifies a tying 
together, a union. 

I will here pass over in silence the signs for the periods of 260, 2,920 
(8X365), and 8,760 (24X365) days, which I think I have discovered, 
but am not yet sufficiently certain to publish a statement regarding 
them. 

It is important to ascertain whether other stars and constellations 
besides the sun, moon, and Venus have not their special symbols. I 
have already attempted in this journal to show that the Pleiades are 
probably designated by the Moan head and its representative signs. 
I think Mercury may be recognized in a Venus sign before which 
a human figure with head downward, /, is drawn (Dresden codex, 
pages 57 and 58). Doctor Seler has already shown (1887) that in all 
probability the firmament is commonly denoted by the day sign Akbal 
(night), g, with a circle of dots around it. 

With the chronologic and astronomic signs the ideas of beginning 
and end are closely connected, and for both these ideas I think I have 
found the glyph. 

These in the main are two heads, the first of which, h, has for an 
eye the day sign Akbal, just mentioned, with which, according to the 
most recent discovery, the 20-day periods may begin. Below are the 
familiar footprints denoting a movement forward. The second sign, 
i, agrees with Xul, the seventh of these periods, and Xul really 
means the end. From pages 61, 62, and 70 of the Dresden manuscript 
in particular, but also from other passages, we learn how these two 
signs are contrasted Avith one another. 

Of the small signs which appear as prefixes, suffixes, etc., to the 
larger characters I have alread}^ mentioned the four relating to the 
cardinal points and the rattlesnake ornament denoting a tying to- 
gether, k. In contrast to the latter is the sign of division, I or 
m, denoting the obsidian knife, which was recognized by Doctor 
Seler in 1887. I have already tried to prove in this journal that the 
superior affix, occurring so frequently, and common to both manu- 
scripts and inscriptions, which consists of the day signs Ben and Ik, 
probably denotes single lunar months of 28 and 29 days, and I expect 
still further to confirm this view. 



FORSTEMANN.] 



THE MAYA GLYPHS 



505 



The representations of particular objects in Maya literature are 
not in question liere, and they will be considered only in so far as 
they appear as actual glyphs in the series with the rest. To this 
class, for example, belong the four animal figures which often occur 
in close proximity — a portion of a mammal, a bird's head, a lizard, 
and a fish — possilbly designating various offerings. 

An important glyph is the hand, which so often occurs in both 
manuscripts and inscriptions. It appears sometimes in the act of 
grasping, with the thumb bent forward, and sometimes as pointing, 
with the thumb close to the hand. The first really appears to denote 
a tying together like the ornament mentioned above, to which I intend 
to refer in my forthcoming essay Zur Entziiferung der Mayahand- 
schriften, IV; the second can hardly denote anything but a move- 
ment in space (as it does on our finger posts) or a lapse of time, 
as in the many examples in the Dresden codex, pages 46 to 50. 

This is practically all the treasure that has thus far been secured 
from the writings of the Mayas. It probably comprises the most im- 
portant ones, but by no means the majority of the signs. Let us 
hope that in the near future these glyphic treasures may increase, 
though hitherto there has been a lack of laborers in this field. 







• X • 





9 7i ^ 

Fig. 111. Glyphs from the Dresden codex. 



SECOND PAPERS 

In volume 66, number 5, pages 78 to 80, of this journal, under the 
same title, I published a short article which was intended to show in 
hasty review what progress had been made in the interpretation of 
these signs. Two or three years have passed since then, and now I 
have been unexpectedly called upon to summarize the progress which 
has been made in this work during the time which has elapsed, par- 
ticularly what I believe has been accomplished by myself. I shall 
be obliged to speak more of myself than is usually my custom. 

(1) a, figure 111. All that can be said concerning this figure is only 
partially new, for Schellhas has proved in his fundamental treatise 

"Die Mayahieroglyphen, Zweiter Artikel, Glohus, 1897, v. 71, n. 5, pp. 78 to 81. 



506 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bdll. 28 

Die Gottergestalten der Mayahandschriften that it is the glyph of 
the god C, and that it is a star, the polar star, in fact. I have recog- 
nized this meaning from the first, but I would prefer to call it the 
polar constellation (Ursa Minor). Now, it happened while I was 
recently examining the remarkable tonalamatl in the Dresden codex, 
pages 4a to 10a, that I discovered in it a peculiar displacement of 
time. As a fixed point of departure I found groups 14 and 15, the 
former representing the tiger, the latter the vulture, with an interval 
of 2 days between them. There is just the same interval between 
the Aztec day Ocelotl (jaguar) and Cozcaquauhtli (vulture). This 
was a very gratifying discovery, because it revealed a new point of 
contact between the Aztec and Maya systems. Now if we reckon 
back from this passage 23 days to group 5 (page 5) we find god C 
with his glyph, and are forced, on account of the distance of the 
days, to place this group with the Maya day Chuen or Aztec Ozo- 
matli (monkey). Finding this to be the case, the question at once 
flashed through my mind, Does not this glyph in the main repre- 
sent a monkey's skull ? Does it not present an indication of the lat- 
eral nasal aperture of the American monkey? The Aztec day sign 
Ozomatli has a certain, though distant, resemblance to this sign. But 
how are the monkey and Ursa Minor to be connected ? I fully be- 
lieve that the former is more appropriate here than the latter. The 
polar star is the last star in the tail, but the monkey, after the fashion 
of its kind, clings with its tail to a fixed point, around which it 
swings the rest of its body. But I already hear the opponents of this 
conception, and pass on to a second glyph. 

(2) ?>. After I had printed my treatise, Zur Entzifferung der 
Mayahandschriften, V, in 1895, I next undertook the task of ex- 
amining the 28 groups belonging together on pages 71 to 73 of the 
Dresden codex, each consisting of three glyphs, and found that they 
had no connection with the adjacent numbers, but represented a rit- 
ual year of 364 days, divided into 28X13 days. Then I forthwith 
noticed that groups 4, 11, 18, and 25 contained the glyph given above, 
in several variants, at intervals of 91 days. Hence nothing was 
more natural than to see in this sign h a Bacab, a deity of the wind 
and the cardinal points, since we have long known that each period 
of 91 days is under the dominion of a particular Bacab. This was 
fully confirmed by a comparison of the 69 groups of glyphs on pages 
51 to 58, in which I likeAvise recognized weeks of 13 days. Although 
the groups are very often destroyed, especially in the first half, the 
sign appeared again in groups 39, 46, 53, and 60, and I attached 
to this fact various observations concerning repetitions after every 
seven groups. In a third series of glyphs on page 72 at the top, I 
ao-ain found the Bacab in the eighth member. The number 4 fre- 



fOrsxemann.] 



THE MAYA GLYPHS 507 



quently occurring before this sign proves abundantly that one of the 
four Bacabs is intended. 

(3) c. On page 6 of my treatise just referred to in connection 
with the preceding glyph I mentioned the discovery of the character 
given here as c in the eighth and sixteenth of the 28 groups. I had 
reasons for making the ritual year reconstructed there begin with the 
spring equinox, and the consequent positions indicated for the two 
signs were June and September; that is, the beginning and the end 
of the rainy season. It seems to me to represent a cloud from which 
three streams of water are falling upon the earth. The obsidian 
knife added below may here indicate, as it often does, a division, or 
period, of time. On page 36c of the Dreden codex we see the figure 
of a god standing in the water and looking upward, upon whom 
similarly drawn raindrops are falling from a rain cloud, clearly 
distinguishable as such. 

(4) d. This sign occurs very frequently, with different variants, in 
the manuscript, but probably never in the inscriptions. In the 
treatise mentioned in connection with the preceding glyph, I have 
already cursorily pointed out that a somewhat similar sign seemed at 
least to approximate the idea of the week of 13 days, and I would like 
to speak more in detail concerning it. I will first remark that even in 
the manuscripts I can point out this glyph only in those sections which 
contain tonalamatls. It is therefore missing in the entire second part 
of the Dresden codex, from page 46 onward; also in the first part 
from page 25 to 28, and likewise in the Troano codex on those pages 
which correspond to the last-named pages, that is, 23 to 20, etc. It 
occurs more frequently with day XIII than with any other week day, 
as in the Dresden codex, pages lie and 41a, and in the Troano codex, 
pages 15c, 16a, 30c to 29c and 31*b. Furthermore, it appears after 
the period of 13 days, as in Troano codex, page 16c, and after 6+7 
days in the Dresden codex at least, page 23c. But it is used especially 
at the close of the divisions of the tonalamatl, as after 2X13=26 days 
in the Dresden codex, page 14c, in the Troano codex, page 31*b, and in 
the Cortesian codex, page 29b; after 4X13=52 days in the Dresden 
codex, pages lie, 22b; after 5X13=65 days in the Dresden codex, 
page 16b, and in the Troano codex, page 7*c. Indeed, in the Troano 
codex, pages 30c to 29c, it appears to be added to each of the five divi- 
sions of 13 days eB,ch, which, however, is uncertain on account of the 
careless drawing. And in the Troano codex, pages 8c to 7c, where the 
52 days are divided into five sections (4X10+12) it is likewise em- 
ployed five times. Finally, I call attention to it in the Dresden codex, 
page 30b, where it closes 10X13=130 days. I think these examples 
are sufficient to warrant me in ascribing to this glyph the function of 
denoting the week of 13 davs or the close of such a week having the 
day XIII. 



508 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

I have still a word to say concerning the remarkable tonalamatl in 
the Dresden codex, pages 4a to 10a, where twenty of the first 52 days 
are rendered prominent by pictures and groups of glyphs. Here this 
character appears in the groups 1, 5, 11, and 16; that is, with the sec- 
ond, fifteenth, twenty-ninth, and forty-fourth days of the 260-day 
period. That might mean that a new 13-day period had begun mean- 
time, though not exactly with these days. The character (e) appears 
besides, in a somewhat different position, it is true, in the fourteenth 
group (the thirty-eighth day) ; that is, after the expiration of 13 
groups. It is also remarkable that this day, as we saw above, is the 
day Ix of the Mayas, Ocelotl (tiger) of the Aztec, and this day, if we 
begin the series as usual with Imix, stands in the fourteenth place at 
the beginning of a new week. Indeed, it should be observed that 
this character, 6, resembles no day glyph of the Mayas more closely 
than Ix ; and here there is possibly a forgotten original connection. 
The sign Ix, hitherto entirely unexplained, almost suggests the idea 
that in it two lines radiate from an Imix, between which three dots 
are placed; now two lines and three dots form the number sign 13 
(2x5+3). However, I do not wish to assert any conclusion. 

(5) This glyph, /, is the familiar sign for the thirteenth 20-day 
period of the year ; that is, the so-called month Mac. But I believe 
I was right when I assigned a second meaning to this sign in my 
treatise Zur Entzifferung der Mayahandschriften, IV. I examined 
there page 24 of the Dresden codex, the object of which is to link to- 
gether the solar year, the Venus year, and the tonalamatl, and inci- 
dentally the lunar month and the Mercury year as well. Here I 
found, first of all, in the series of glyphs on the left, several signs 
relating to the solar and Venus years, and then, in the eleventh and 
twelfth places, this glyph wherein I was inclined to see the tonalamatl, 
for which, strange to say, no sign has as yet been discovered. This sign 
IS repeated, which may possibly denote the recurring tonalamatl. How 
does the period Mac happen to have this meaning? The chief reason 
is that 260 days of the year have really elapsed at the end of the 
period Mac; but the form of this glyph also furnishes a certain 
justification for connecting it with this meaning, for in reality it is a 
variant of the familiar Imix which stands at the head of the series of 
days. This sign has a suffix which originally seems to have indicated 
a bird's feather and possibly still occurs in the manuscripts with this 
meaning. A bird's feather, however, is one of the most fitting sym- 
bols supplied by nature to designate the plural. Thus, in my opinion, 
this glyph denotes Imix, in that the day constantly returns until it 
regains its original position in the week. 

One place where I think I find a sign for the tonalamatl is in col- 
umns A and B of the Cross of Palenque. After the well-known 



I'OESTEMANN.] 



THE MAYA GLYPHS 509 



superscription we find there, always combined with the pictures of 
the gods belonging to them, the signs of the periods of 144,000, 7,200, 
360, and 20 days; then, the single day counted off on the subjoined 
fingers; after that, the principal day Ahau in the eighth place, with 
the picture of god D, to whom it is dedicated, which is often the case, 
as for instance, in the Dresden codex, page 9a, on the left. 

Should we not expect to find the tonalamatl among the succeeding 
glyphs on pages 9 to 12 ? I commend this passage to the student for 
further consideration. In addition, the moon's revolution and the 
point at which Maya chronology begins are represented. 

(6) First of all, at the top is the sign of a number, g, which I 
will leave for the present undetermined. Below it are two glyphs, the 
probably phallic yax (" vigor ", " strength ") and the kin (" sun ") 
signs. We are reminded of the month Yaxkin, which corresponds ap- 
proximately to our November, and consequently can not take its name 
from the power of the sun, but rather f.om a particular deity or sacri- 
fice. This, not the month, was thought of in connection with the sign, 
as is demonstrated by the following six passages of the Dresden manu- 
script where it occurs. 

. On page 18a is a woman holding the glyph (yax placed above kin) 
in her hand, like an offered sacrifice. The glyphs above the picture 
are destroyed, but probably contained the same sign once more. On 
page 18c a woman carries this figure on her back. Such a sign 
usually indicates a particular deity. The glyphs found above repeat 
the sign. On page 19c is the same representation as on the preceding 
page. The woman has a hair ornament of flowers. On page 27b the 
sign is placed on a vessel, a kind of bowl. This means food offered as 
a sacrifice. The two remaining examples, on pages 46b on the right 
and 50c on the right, are placed under different glyphs, most probably 
denoting gods, at the beginning and end of the great representation 
which treats of the period of 2,920 days, in which five apparent Venus 
years (5X584) coincide with 8 solar years. Each time the adjacent 
sign is the Moan, in which I have surmised the end of the year and the 
Pleiades. 

Four examples, in which this sign occurs in Codex Troano-Cort- 
tesianus (Cortesian codex, page 35b, and Troano codex, pages 21a, 
22*a, and 14*b), owing to the inexactness prevailing in this manu- 
script, would demand a long discussion without advancing the matter. 

We must now observe the number sign v/hich stands above the 
glyphs yax and kin, g. For this purpose I will call attention to the 
example cited above from the Dresden codex, page 27b. The four 
pages 25 to 28 treat of the last day of the four kinds of years and 
of the first day of the succeeding years, but still offer a great many 
enigmas. The numerals scattered through the different parts of the 



510 



BUEEAU OF AMERTCAlSr ETHNOLOGY 



[bull. 28 



pages are especially to be counted among these riddles. I will here 
show the positions of these numerals. 



Pages 


25 


26 


27 


28 


a 


9 7 


7 16 


11 
5 


6 6 


b 


8 
9 


13 


3 


13 


c 




7 


•X- 


6 


d 


19 


9 


16 


15 



I would like to place the 9 of page 25b in page 25c, for it would 
produce greater uniformity. 

Numbers 9, 7, 11, and 6 of division a are connected with a sign in 
which there is an ik (" wind "' or " fire ") ; the other four numbers 
belong to a glyph of which the chief factor is the moon. 

In division b there belongs to each number a group formed of a 
chuen repeated three times, that wonderful sign, the interpretation of 
which would be so great a step in advance. 

In c each number refers to a vessel containing sacrificial gifts. 

Lastly, in d, on page 25, the number appears above a large kettle, 
which seems intended to be used for cooking the sacrificial flesh (the 
slaughtered fowl near it?), while on pages 26 to 27 it is also joined 
with offerings, but most directly in each case with the yet unex- 
plained sign /?, whose chief factor is the glyph of the moon. 

All the numbers, of which there are 20, seem to have been arbitra- 
rily chosen ; at least, with the greatest pains I have not yet succeeded 
in discovering the law that governs them. The fact that the sum of 
the first numbers in division a is 33 and that of the second numbers 34 
did not even help me. 

The pages deal with the possible 52 years of a katun period. Now, 
it is striking that the sum of the five numbers on page 25 is exactly 
52, and uncertainty as to whether this result is intentional or not van- 
ishes at once when we see that also on page 26 the sum is 52. With 
this fact in mind we proceed to page 27 and find here 11+5+2+16= 
34. If here, too, 52 is the result intended, as we must certainly wish 
it to be, then the hitherto unknown numeral must be an 18, an abbre- 
viation for the awkward form /, standing literally for duodeviginti 
(20 — 2) in the Maya writing 18. 



FoiiSTEMANN.] THE MAYA GLYPHS 511 

Finally, on page 28, the sum of the numbers is only 46, and this 
leads us to surmise that somewhere there should have been written 
6 units more, in division a. 

Thus we are compelled to recognize in the number 18 a number 
pertaining to a deity, somewhat as 13 belongs to god S and 11 to god 
1'. We should find more examples if the remains of Maya literature 
handed down to us were more voluminous; 18, how^ever, is also the 
number of the 20-day periods Avhich make the year. 

But which god belongs to the number? I think he is to be found 
close beside this glyph in the Dresden codex, page 27b. It is the 
"old god ", D, that moon and birth god, who, perhaps, as Izamna, 
was supreme among the Mayas, and as Tonacatecutli prominent 
among the Aztecs and as Hunahpu among the Cakchikels. But why 
is the number never added to his picture, as far as we have seen, 
but only to the sacrifices offered to him? His glyphs already had a 
determinative sufficiently plain, the day sign Ahau, which denotes 
the most important of all days and, as is well known, the beginning 
of all Maya chronology. The other chief gods. A, B, and C, likewise 
require no numbers to determine them more clearly. 

Where duodeviginti occurs one might expect imdeviginti also. I 
present here for consideration, without being able to prove anything, 
the sign ^ found in the Dresden codex, page 3, at the top on the 
right. In this passage it is near the sign of the serpent deity, H, 
which corresponds to the day Chicchan. 

But I would say by way of caution that the sign X which in the 
Dresden codex, page 58, lower half, stands before the glyph for 7,200 
days, must not be interpreted in the same way as those last discussed, 
for the cross here only signifies that the dot does not belong in this 
place, but to the glyph above, wlhere there was no room for it. A 
comparison with the last glyph but one of the first column, Dresden 
codex, page 24, confirms this observation. 

(7) h. It is advisable in attempts at deciphering to turn our atten- 
tion to the glyphs which occur most frequently, as the difference of 
their environment may sometimes give us the right clue. It Avill cer- 
tainly be of value to consider all the details of their occurrence, even 
if an actual interpretation is not finally reached. To these fre- 
quently occurring signs belongs the one given here, h^ which we' will 
follow through the Dresden codex, which, owing to its careful execu- 
tion, gives more promise of success than the inexact Codex Troano- 
Cortesianus. 

This glyph occurs on page 3, near the tonalamatl combined with 
the picture of a human sacrifice, beside the sign of the god B, the 
most frequent in the manuscript. The great tonalamatl. pages 4a 
to 10a, shows the sign not less than five times, in the sixth, fifteenth, 



512 BUBEAU OF AMEEICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

twenty-third, thirty-third, and forty-eighth of the 52 days, with the 
gods B, C, H, K, and E, successively in the sixth, fourth, fifth, sixth, 
and fifth places of each of the six glyphs. On page 5c we find it 
placed with the god D, page 6b with E, Tc with H, 10b with B, 11a 
with H, lib with L, lie with E, 12a with K, 13b with C, 14c with 
D, 17b with an undetermined female deity, likewise 19b and 20c, 21b 
with A, 21c with I), 22b perhaps Avith I, 23c with D and with three 
female personages. Here, in every case, the glyph is in a tonalamatl. 
It is wholly lacking on the astronomic page 24, notwithstanding 
that it contains 40 glyphs. Of the four calendric pages, 25 to 28, 
containing no tonalamatl, only page 26 contains this sign, where it 
stands in the middle row between the glyphs of E and U. In the 
large section devoted to god B, which contains so many tonalamatls, 
it is missing, strange to say, on all the pages from 29 to 37 and then 
appears again three times, on 38b, 39a, and 40a, each time with the 
picture of this god. The last five pages of the first part of the 
manuscript, 41 to 45, again entirely lack this character, although 
gods and tonalamatls abound in them. 

^ In the second division of the Dresden codex, pages 46 to 74, the 

ritual year becomes of secondary importance and the astronomic year 

becomes more prominent. Accordingly, we rarely find this glyph 

here. On pages 46 to 50, on which the Venus and solar years are 

made to agree, it is found only once, on page 48 at the top on the 

right, directly in the center of the 20-membered period of 2,920 days, 

beside its tenth member. In the large section pages 51 to 60 this 

sign is wholly lacking. We first find it again on page 65, in the lower 

half. Here the period treated of is the ritual year of 364 days, the 

actual year 9 Kan, it would seem, the sign of which is on the left of 

the glyph under discussion. However, 9 Kan is the middle point of 

the great world epoch beginning with the year 9 Ix. At the end of 

the same section, 91 days, or a quarter of a year later, lower half of 

page 69, this glyph appears again. But what it may mean above 

on the same page, likewise at the end of 91 days, where it is connected 

with the ordinary sign of the owl (death bird) we must leave quite 

undecided. This section, which I have discussed more fully in the 

Zeitschrift fiir Ethnologic, 1891, presents special difficulties. Finally, 

in the last example offered by our manuscript, page 73, in the middle, 

our glyph stands directly under the sign of the death god A in the 

twentieth member of a series, each member of which denotes 13 days ; 

that is, after 13X20 days, just a tonalamatl from the beginning of the 

year. 

So much we know concerning the different circumstances under 
which this glyph appears in the Dresden codex, and yet we have 
hardly formed an opinion concerning its meaning, to find which must 



I'ORSTEMANN.] 



THE MAYA GLYPHS 513 



be our chief object. We can only make the negative assertion that it 
can not possibly denote a particular cleit}^, a particular sacrifice, or a 
particular period. Almost the only other supposition is that it must 
denote a particular ceremony. Was it, perhaps, the sprinkling three 
times with the aspergill ? Or are we to think of the three steps which 
the priests had to take ? The chief part of the glyph is the day sign 
Oc, which, to be sure, means the foot, therefore, perhaps, also a step. 
Some one once suggested a " third order of priests ", of which, how- 
ever, nothing has ever been known. In any event, this communication 
will supply acceptable material for the final solution of the question. 
7238— No. 28—05 33 



THE CENTRAL AMERICAN CALENDAR 



E. FORSTEMAISTN 



515 



THE CENTRAL AMERICAN CALENDAR 



By E. Forstemann 



Dr Daniel G. Brinton, professor of American archeology and 
philology in the University of Pennsylvania, besides making many 
investigations in other directions, has since the year 1869 fnrnished 
nnmerous valuable contributions to his special branch of the science. 
Among these is his recent book The Native Calendar of Central 
America and Mexico (Philadelphia, 1893). This calendar is in 
every essential point identical in the territory of the Nahuas in the 
valley of Mexico and in Guatemala and Nicaragua, among the Mayas 
of Yucatan and their kindred in Chiapas and the surrounding region, 
hence among tribes which are linguistically unrelated. The chief 
feature of this book of Brinton's is an investigation of the names 
which in very different ways have been given by these peoples to the 
20 single days and to the 18-day and 20-day periods of the year, 
erroneously called months. Certainly, no one is able to carry out 
a linguistic investigation of this kind more thoroughly than Doctor 
Brinton. since he has access to numerous manuscript vocabularies 
of the language, some of them in the library of the American Philo- 
sophical Society and others in his own possession. With the aid 
of these, he seeks in this book to determine the fundamental mean- 
ing of the different words by which a certain day is designated ; with 
the so-called months no such agreement is found. This meaning can 
always be found in the living forms of transmitted speech in Nahuatl, 
while in Maya, Tzental, Kiche, Cakchikel, and in the Zapotec these 
words mostly have an archaic character, which points to a greater 
antiquity of the calendar than it has in Nahuatl and naturally leaves 
room for much doubt. Now, it seems as if this investigation might 
be materially aided by the study of the appertaining glyphs, but Doc- 
tor Brinton does not admit this, for, according- to his view, the glyphs 
have nothing whatever to do with the meaning of the word, but only 
with the sound, as if we were to attempt to represent the English 
pronoun " I '' by an eye or the word '' matron " by a mat and a per- 
son running. I do not deny such a process, but accept it in the cases 
where an old day name has vanished from the living language; thus, 

« Zum mittelamerikanishchen Kalender, Globus, 1894, v. 65, p. 20. 

517 



518 



BUREATJ OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



[BULL. 28 



for example, the first day is called in Nahuatl Cipactli, undoubtedly a 
kind of fish. Imix, or Imox, in the Maya language must have had 
the same meaning, although the glyph seems to me to indicate the 
female breast (" im ", breast, and " ix ", feminine suffix) , Does it, how- 
ever, necessarily follow that the meaning was always so forgotten? 
The Maya glyphs for Chicchan, Cimi, Ezanab, for example, indicate 
clearly enough the serpent's skin, the death's-head, and the stone lance 
point. However, without this aid of the glyphs, Brinton has dis- 
covered much that is new and important, and it is only in consequence 
of the brief sj)ace allotted me that I am obliged to deny myself the 
pleasure of discussing it more in detail. Nor can I touch upon his 
subtle observations concerning the so-called month names. But let 
me remark here that a study of the glyphs would lead to and establish 





k 



m 



n 



P 



u 



w X y z 

Fig. 112. Day signs from the Maya codices. 



aa 



many thinsfs. For example, that the sixth month, Xul, actually 
means " end " is directly proved by the instances in which its glyph 
stands at the end of long periods of time, as it does seven times 
among the calendar dates discovered by me in the Dresden manu- 
script, page 61 to the bottom of page 62. and in many other places. 
Moreover, it is remarkable that there have been no names handed 
down to us for the actual lunar months, which must have been very 
well known to these tribes, as I haA'e showil in volume 63, number 2, 
of this journal. Still I think that I have now found at least the 
glyphs for these months in the twelve or more different signs, com- 
mon to both the manuscripts and the inscriptions, having affixed 
above them a combination of the day signs Ben and Ik {a, figure 
112), Ben being separated from the second Ik following it by 29 



fOrstemann.] 



CENTRAL AMERICAN CALENDAR 519 

days. In the practical calendar the mconvenient ^-nj- ^9 -uld .K>t 
well be used, but onlv the convenient divisor 28 (28X13-364). On 
pages 6 and 7 Brintmi also touches on this division of the year, on 
whlh, I am sorry to say, I must not permit^ myself -e to dweU. 
1 am also forced to leave the last chapters of his boolv^ The sym- 
bolism of the dav names " and " General symbolic significance of the 
calendar'-, without any discussion whatever, especially as 1 am 
unable to follow the author in his lofty flights. (For the twenty day 
glyphs see g to aa, figure 112.) 



THE PLEIADES AMONG THE MAYAS 



E. FORSTEMAIS'N 



521 



THE PLEIADES AMONG THE MAYAS« 



By E. Forstemann 



In volume 64, number 22, of this journal, the editor published an 
article. Die Plejaden im My thus und in ihrer Beziehung zum Jah- 
resbeginn und Landbau, in which he sets forth the importance of 
this constellation in the life of widely different peoples. This article 
inspired me to write down some thoughts which have long been in my 
mind concerning the Maya tribes of Central America ; that is, con- 
cerning the acme of all American civilization. 

Peter Martyr, in his book entitled " De nuper sub D. Carolo repertis 
insulis ", Basilege, 1521, page 34, says of the tribes living in and about 
Mexico: Annum ab occasu eliaco vergiliarum incipiunt et mensibus 
claudunt lunaribus. This refers to a new year's day which comes in 
May, as is recorded of the Chiapanecs in Chiapas, differing widely 
from the Maya year as we know it, which begins on the 16th of July. 
It refers also to the fact that the year is not divided into the well- 
known 20-day periods, but into 13 actual lunar months, 28 days 
long [?], as i have already assumed in volume 65, number 1, of this 
journal. ' At present I shall express no opinion regarding the relative 
antiquity of the two calendars or regarding the spread of each among 
the different tribes or the probability that they may have existed side 

by side. 

Now. the period of about 40 days during which the Pleiades dis- 
appear must coincide for the greater part with the fifteenth of the 18 
20-day periods of the Maya, the so-called Moan month, from the 22d 
of April to the 12th of May. This month is designated hieroglyph- 
ically by the head of an unknown, probably mythical, bird {h, figure 
112). The signs c and d also occur, apparently having the same 
meaning, and of these the second may indicate a bird's wing, raised 
up, while the first perhaps shows the intersecting paths of two 
heavenly bodies. 

The editor has shown in the essay referred to above that with dif- 
ferent peoples the Pleiades are designated by a bird or even a flock of 

« Die Plejaden bei den Mayas, Globus, 1894, v. 65, p. 246. 



524 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

birds. But with the Mayas these pictures display an attribute which 
furnishes a striking- argument in favor of a connection between the 
Moan head and the Pleiades. It is the numeral 13 (e, figure 112), 
and rarely any other, which is placed before the signs in question. 
We see it thus accompanying the Moan head in the Dresden manu- 
script, pages 8b, 16c, 18b, and the second sign in pages 7c, 10a, 12a, 
etc. I think this can only mean that there is no reference here to 
the 20-day period Moan, or to a deity belonging to it, but to the 
thirteenth (last) lunar month of the year. 

This view is supported by evidence from still another direction. 
Pax, as the sixteenth period, follows the 20-day period Moan. Others 
may have already observed that the sign of this period (/, figure 112) 
is the same as the sign for the year of 360 days. This sign and its 
unmistakable variants are common to both manuscripts and inscrip- 
tions. It has long been thought that they stood for the stone (tun) 
which was set up at the confines of the villages at the beginning of 
the new ,vear; for example, in the Dresden codex, pages 25 and 28. 
I see in the two broad, vertical stripes a reference to the columns of 
glyphs which ahvays cover the monuments of the Maya in pairs. 
Where two fishes (as happens sometimes on the stone monuments) 
or at least two fins (as is sometimes the case in the inscriptions and 
always in the manuscripts) are portrayed above this year sign, the 
sign means 20X360^7,200 days, as I pointed out some time ago in 
the Zeitschrift fiir Ethnologic, 1891, pages 141 to 153. 

According to Perez's dictionary, cay means " fish " in the Maya 
language. Thus a fish placed upon a stone might be read caytun. 
Can this be an approximate representation of the word " katun '\ 
which, it is well known, was used to designate periods of time (vary- 
ing probably at different times and in different parts of the country) ? 

Thus Pax proves to be that period which, after the reappearance 
of the Pleiades, or probably a little sooner, begins the year of 13 
months, the previous one having ended with Moan. Therefore, at the 
time wdien the 20-day periods were introduced Moan and Pax, 
belonging to an earlier period of time, seem to have been retained 
to mark the former new year, while for others a few new signs at 
least had to be created. 

Proceeding from the present communication, further research 
must not lose sight of two important points: (1) The meaning of 
the signs of the 20-day periods and their probable reference to con- 
stellations; (2) the cases where certain glyphs lacking calendar dates 
are combined with preceding numbers. 

At all events tlie number of Maya glyphs whose meaning is becom- 
ing clear to us is increasing constantly. It is true, however, that we 
have not progressed as far with the inscriptions as with the manu- 
scripts. 



CENTRAL AMERICAN TONALAMATL 



E. FORSTEMANN 



525 



CENTRAL AMERICAN TONALAMATL'^ 



By E. Forstemann 



One of the most important devices common to both the Aztecs and 
the Mayas, thus doubtless a common possession of all Central America, 
IS unquestionably the tonalamatl, that 260-day period in which the 
13 week days are repeated twenty times ; but these two peoples differ 
widely in the manner of representing this period of time. The Aztecs 
mechanically copied the pictures of the 20 days in the order of their 
succession in constant repetition, designating the position of every 
day in the 13-day week by a number, and finally adding the represen- 
tations of the deities dominating the days and the Aveeks. To cite 
only one example, it is thus we see it in the Tonalamatl of Aubin, on 
which Doctor Seler has contributed an unusually full report in the 
Compte rendu of the Berlin Americanist Congress of 1888. 

The Mayas, to whom I shall confine myself here, proceeded very 
differently. They first divided the tonalamatl into quarters, fifths, 
or tenths; that is, into periods of five, four, or two weeks each, or 
65, 52, or 26 days. They represented the first day only in every divi- 
sion with its sign, and these stand off', one below the other, thus 
requiring for the whole tonalamatl only four, five, or ten signs. 
Above these a number sign indicates once for all the place in the 
week occupied by these days. Furtherm.ore, not the whole tonala- 
matl, but only the first of its divisions of 65, 52, or 26 days, was divided 
into a number of equal or unequal parts, which were separated from 
each other by days on which apparently some particular business was 
performed or particular feasts were celebrated. These events are 
explained by pictures and glyphs. We are justified in supposing 
that the other parts of the tonalamatl were regarded as divided in 
exactly the same way as the manuscripts show the first part to be 
divided. 

It might not seem necessary to express myself otherwise than briefly 
here, as I have already treated the subject in my Erlauterungen 
treating of the Dresden manuscript in 1886, and Mr Cyrus Thomas 
has discussed it still more thoroughly in his Aids to the Study of the 
Maya Codices in 1888, but the accumulation of material since that 

"^ Das mittelamerikanische Tonalamatl, Globus, 1895, v. 67, n. 18, pp. 283-285. 

527 



528 BUKEAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

time and the rate at which knowledge of the subject has in the mean- 
time progressed emphatically demand a fresh exposition. 

The matter is the more important because a large part of the sur- 
face of the manuscripts is covered with tonal amatls of this kind. To 
be sure, in those sorry remains which we call Codex Peresianus I find 
in one place only (page 17) a tonalamatl, of five parts, which seems 
to begin with the day VII 7. The Dresden codex, however, abounds 
in such examples, since it contains in its first part (not in the second, 
which is more astronomic) not fewer than about 70 of these tonal- 
amatls. Their number can not be determined with perfect accu- 
racy on account of the destruction of certain passages, the careless- 
ness of the scribe, and other causes of uncertainty. Codex Troano- 
Cortesianus, however, is richest in tonalamatls; all its parts indeed 
abound in them. It presents not fewer than about 223 examples. 

In order that this matter may not be too difficult for the compre- 
hension of the reader, I will here give examples, taken from Codex 
Troano-Cortesianus, of the three kinds mentioned above : 

1. Codex Cortesianus, pages 10b to lib, tonalamatl of four parts: 

XIII 9 IX 9 V 10 II 6 VIII 2 X 10 VII 5 XII 7 VI 7 XIII 
19 

4 

9 
14 

2. Cortesian codex, page 17a, tonalamatl of five parts : 

I 11 XTI 12 XI 8 VI 13 VI 8 I 
17 
9 
1 

13 
5 

3. Troano codex, page 33b, tonalamatl of ten parts : 

IV 11 II 6 VIII 3 XI 6 IV 

8 18 
14 4 
20 10 

6 16 
12 2 

The Roman numeral in the left-hand upper corner indicates the 
week day with which the tonalamatl begins ; the Eoman numerals at 
the right of it indicate the week days with wdiich the different parts 
begin; the last week day (XIII, I, IV) must always be like the first, 
as the number of days is always divisible by 13 without remainder. 
The length of the different periods is shown by the Arabic numerals, 
and the sum of these nnist therefore be 65, 52, and 26. The vertical 
roAV of numbers on the left gives the so-called month days, reckoned 
from the day Kan. "V\^ioever counts from Imix must set down 1, 2, 
and 3, instead of 18, 19, and 20, respectively, and increase the other 
numbers by 3. These days, in the three examples, are actually sepa- 



I'ORSTEMANN.] CENTRAL AMERICAlSr TONALAMATL 529 

rated by 5, 12, and 6, but relatively by 65, 52, and 26, since the week 
day indicated above them in always included. However, I have 
explained this somewhat at length in my Erlauterungen. 

The three kinds mentioned include the entire number of tonala- 
matls contained in the manuscripts, with the exception of a few 
anomalous examples, and it is quite worth while to learn in what pro- 
portion the three kinds occur in the two manuscripts. 

Dresden Troano-Cortesianus 

Tonalamatl of four parts 13 44 

Tonalamatl of five parts 43 132 

Tonalamatl of ten parts 8 40 

63 216 

Both manuscripts, otherwise differing so greatly from one another, 
agree in this, that the division is by far the most frequent into peri- 
ods of 52 days, into those of 65 days less so, and into those of 26 days 
least frequent of all. Indeed, the ratio of the tonalamatls of five 
parts to the entire number is surprisingly alike in both manuscripts : 
m the Dresden codex, 1 to 1.5 ; in Codex Troano-Cortesianus, 1 to 1.6. 
It is more a matter of chance with the other two kinds, owing to the 
smallness of the numbers; nevertheless the figures expressing the 
ratio of the periods of four parts do not ditl'er very greatly : in the 
Dresden codex, 1 : 5.2 ; in Codex Troano-Cortesianus, 1 : 4.9. Who 
will be the one to discover the reason for this wonderful similarity ? 

But there are still other remarkable coincidences observed. While 
we have just seen that the division of only the first quarter, fifth, or 
tenth of the tonalamatl is carried out in detail, and it is left to the 
reader to apply this arrangement to the other sections, in isolated 
cases a tonalamatl of four parts (and only such a one) shows uniform 
treatment throughout. The Dresden codex offers three examples of 
this : 

1. On each of the four pages 31b to 34b 46 days are separated into 
periods of 9, 9, 9, 2, 4, 9, and 4 days, and 19 days are designated as the 
distance of each one of these groups from the next; thus, 260=4 
(19-f46). 

2. On pages 33c to 39c the division into 9, 11, 20, 10, and 15=65 
days occurs four times in succession with great uniformity of detail; 
thus, 260=4 (9+11-f 20+10+15). 

3. On pages 42c to 45c (the end of the first division) four repeti- 
tions of 17+6X8=65 days give rise in each case to a special row of 
glyphs and a special representation; thus, 260=4 (17+6X8)- 

I can quote two examples from Codex Troano-Cortesianus, which 
correspond perfectly : 

1. In Codex Cortesianus, pages 13b to 18b, four horizontal rows, 
each of 52 days, follow each other in close succession, the last being 
7238— No. 28—05 34 



530 BUKEAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

51 days distant from the first; from the end of each row to the 
beginning of the following one, therefore from the end of the last 
to the beginning of the first as Avell, there are 14 days ; thus, 260=4 
(51+14). 

2. In the Troano codex, pages 33c to 32c, is another example. Four 
days standing in a vertical row are repeated four times, with a dis- 
tance of 20 days between each row ; that is, 3X20r--:60. From the last 
day of every column to the first of the next, therefore from the end 
of the last to the beginning of the first, there are 5 days; thus, 
4X5 = 20. Consequently, 260=4 (5+3X20). 

We should try to approach the secrets which lie concealed here from 
every side. Unfortunately, we have not yet passed the tentative 
stage. There is lack of workers in this comparatively new field, in 
which scarcely a dozen men are seriously laboring, and in which conse- 
quently each individual may hope for a comparatively rich harvest. 

If we next inquire whether it is the subject of the particular part of 
the manuscript which influenced the choice of one or the other of the 
three kinds of tonalamatls, the answer is entirely in the negative. 
Thus all three kinds occur indiscriminately in the portion of the 
Dresden codex pertaining to women (pages 13 to 23). They appear 
in the same w^ay in the other manuscript, in the section relating to 
household economy and agriculture (Codex Cortesianus, page 19; 
Troano codex, page 24*), in that relating to bee culture (Troano 
codex, pages 9* to 1*), and, finally, in that relating to the chase 
(Troano codex, pages 19 to 8), although it is a striking fact that in 
this latter passage in one instance (Troano codex, pages 12b to 9c) 
six of the unusual tonalamatls of ten parts follow each other in close 
succession. 

If the question is put whether Ave have gained clearer view^s from 
the division of these periods of 65, 52, and 26 days, Ave must deny 
this also ; still Ave must, notAvithstanding this, continue to study them, 
for they may yet perhaps lead to ncAv conclusions. It is note- 
Avorthy that there are in the Dresden codex 13 and in Codex Troano- 
Cortesianus at least 44 cases (in both instances from a sixth to a fifth 
of the entire number) in Avhich the single parts consist oiily of periods 
of 13 or of 26 or of 39 days, that is, of undiAaded Aveeks. There are 
some very similar cases in Codex Troano-Cortesianus (not found in 
the Dresden codex) in Avhich each Aveek is divided into Iavo unequal 
parts. Thus the 26 in the Troano codex, pages 9*c to 8*c, is divided 
into 2 (7+6), the 52 in Codex Cortesianus, page 19a, into 4 (T+6), 
and page 30a into 4 (8+5), the 65 in the Troano codex, page 33*b, 
into 5 (8+5), and vice versa, page 3*b, into 5 (5+8). The period of 
tAVO weeks is cA^en divided in Codex Cortesianus, page 28b, into 18+8, 
in order to form a period of 52 days. 



FOESTEMANN.] CENTRAL AMERICAN TONALAMATL 531 

Contrariwise, 26, 52, and 65 are never divided, respectively, into 
18 sections of 2, 4, and 5 days ; that has nnqiiestionably been avoided. 

Thus it is doubtless intentional, not accidental, that these three 
periods are often divided into the greatest number of equal parts, to 
which one or tw^o more unequal parts are added or between which 
they are inserted in order to complete the sum. I here give the cases 
which have come to ni}^ knowledge : 

1. 26=4X4+10 (Troauo codex, page 25*e) =4x5+6 (Troano codex, 
page 28*c) =3X7+5 (Dresden codex, page 21b, also Troano codex, page 
23*d). 

2. 52=4X6+28 (Troano codex, page 29*a) =8X6+4 (Troano codex, 
page 15*c) =5x8+7+5 (Troano codex, page 24*d) =5x9+7 (Dresden 
codex, page 8c, and Troano codex, page 31*c) =4x10+3+9 (Dresden 
codex, page 40c) =4x10+12 (Troano codex, page 8c) =3x11+10+9 
(Dresden codex, page 19c) =4x11+8 (Troano codex, page 31b) =4+6x8 
(Troano codex, page 23*b). 

3. 65=6x10+5 (Troano codex, page 35a) =5x12+5 (Dresden codex, 
page 23b) =3x16+17 (Cortesian codex, page 20d). 

The varieties of intentional regularity are entirely exhausted by 
these examples, and I should w^aste space if I were to cite more. I 
will only add one from tlie Dresden codex, pages 4a to 10a, where the 
period of 52 clays is divided into not fewer than 20 parts of from 1 
to 4 daA^s each without any intelligible order. All these 20 parts have 
a common superscription, consisting of two glyphs. And, besides, 
each part has belonging to it the picture of a god and a glyph closely 
connected with the latter. I have given a thorough study to this one 
tonalamatl and have really found much that is curious, which, how- 
ever, is not yet read}^ for publication. 

Let us now^ attempt to approach these tonalamatls from a third 
side, proceeding from the initial days. If the arrangement here were 
left to chance, Ave should, on an average, find each of the so-called 
month days in one-twentieth, and each of the week daj^s in one- 
thirteenth of all the cases. But this does not accord with the actual 
facts in two points in which the two manuscripts agree with each 
other in a very remarkable manner. 

(1) Among the month days both give decided prominence to the 
seventeenth day (Ahau, " lord "), which Avas by far the most exalted 
day, and the one most in use among the Mayas and also the beginning 
of their entire computation of time. Ahau stands 14 times at the 
beginning of the tonalamatl in the Dresden codex and 59 times in 
Codex Troano-Cortesianus, thus in betAveen a fourth and a fifth in- 
stead of in a tAventieth of all the cases. 

(2) Among the Aveek days, the first and the last, I and XIII, were 
greatly preferred. They appear in the Dresden codex 9 and 11 
times; in Codex Troano-Cortesianus 27 and 25 times, ]'espectively, 



532 BUREAU OF AMERICA]:^ ETHNOLOGY [boll. 28 

amounting, therefore, in the former to about one-third and in the 
latter to about one-fourth of all the cases, instead of only two- 
thirteenths. I can further add that the day IV 17 in Codex Troano- 
Cortesianus stands at the beginning of the tonalamatl about 24 times. 
Its importance is not so plainly shown in the Dresden codex on 
account of the smallness of the number (I know only of two cases) ; 
IV 17, however, is the day from which computation of time begins. 
Codex Troano-Cortesianus (41 instances) gives to IV even greater 
prominence than to I or XIII. 

Apart from these points, the week days and month days in both 
manuscripts are purely the result of chance and caprice. 

This being so, we arrive first at two negative results : 

(1) The tonalamatls of the Maya manuscripts do not immediately 
follow one another like months and years; else they would all have 
to begin with the same day, which would always recur after 260 days. 

(2) Neither can they have a fixed place in the year; else their first 
days, even on tlie supposition that intercalary days were inserted 
after certain periods, would easily be seen to follow a definite rule. 
The 3^ear, or at least the exact date in the year, would also occasion- 
ally be stated, but as yet I find no traces of this. 

I haA^e a special reason for speaking of this second point, since the 
distinguished and untiring worker in the field of Aztec research, Mrs 
Zelia Nuttall, at the Americanist Congress held last year at Stock- 
holm, presented her treatise On the Ancient Mexican Calendar Sys- 
tem, in Avhich with great ingenuity she advances the view that with 
the Aztecs the tonalamatl as a special festal season occupied the mid- 
dle of every year of 364 days, which was preceded and followed by 
four Aveeks. I do not deny that the Mayas had such a festal season, 
but the tonalamatls of the manuscripts surely have nothing whatever 
to do Avith it. 

After these negations let us aslv Avhat these tonalamatls really are. 
I can only arriA^e at the following hypothesis, which may A^ery soon be 
superseded by a better one: The tonalamatls of the manuscript are 
kinds of horoscopes AAdiich were cast by the priests for the purpose 
of foretelling the future Ha^cs of persons, classes, or tribes, as AA^ell as 
future political events or natural phenomena. They may haA^e been 
so emploA^ed because they approximate periods of pregnancA^ Natu- 
rally, they had constant reference to the mythologic personages, but 
had no connection AvhatcA^er Avith the established calendar. 

This hypothesis also explains the fact that such horoscopes Avere 
occasionally cast, not for only 260 clays, but for multiples of this 
period. I believe I have found five cases of this in the Dresden 
codex. I give them here in a table shoAving in the first cohnnn the 
place in the manuscript, in the second the distance of the month 



FOESTEMANN.] CENTRAL AMERICAN TONALAMATL 538 

days from each other, in the third the same with reference to the 
week days, and in tlie fourth the entire resulting period : 



Pages 22a to 23a 


19 


39 


oQx 39=3X260 


Pages 30c to 33c 


17 


117 


20X117=9X260 


Page 32a 


11 


91 


20X 91=7X260 


Pages 38b to 41b 


4 


104 


5X104=2X260 


Page 44b 


18 


78 


20X 78=6X260 



In addition, there is the somewhat ditferently arranged passage, 
pages 32a to 39a, where 16X13=208 days are given, which point to 
10X208=8X260. I have already discussed three of these six pas- 
sages in my Erlauterungen, pages 26 to 27. 

I am glad to be able to add to this table two parallel cases from 
Codex Troano-Cortesianus : 

Codex Cortesianus, page 10a 4 104 5X104=2X260 
Troano codex, pages 31c to 30c 19 39 20X 39=3X260 

The reason for these multiple tonalamatls is obvious: 260 is not 
divisible without remainder by 39, 78, 91, 104, and 117, as it is by the 
numbers mentioned above, 26, 52, and 65. 

In addition to the main object of this article, I desire to point out 
for the first time that the two highest intellectual productions of the 
A¥estern Hemisphere, so far as we now know, the Dresden and the 
Madrid manuscripts, with all their points of difference, show very 
surprising similarities, which prove them to be much more nearly 
related than has been hitherto supposed. It is unnecessary to discuss 
here the tonalamatl in Codex Cortesianus, pages 31 to 39, where it is 
completely written out with all the 260 days. 



RECENT MAYA INVESTIGATIONS 



¥1. FORSTEMANlSr 



535 



EECENT MAYA INVESTIGATIONS" 



By E. FORSTEMANN 



A bibliography of a science is the boundary mark in its history, 
and such a boundary mark has now been set for Maya investigation. 
The Centralblatt fiir Bibliothekswesen, in the last number for 1895, 
contains an article by my former colleague, Prof K. Haebler, Die 
Maya Literatur und der Maya Apparat zu Dresden. What I wrote 
on the same subject, in an article contributed in 1885 to the same 
journal, has here been immensely expanded in accordance with the 
surprising activity evinced in this branch of science in recent years. 
No one has greater cause to rejoice than I that the Dresden Library, 
since my retirement from it, continues to take an interest in the work 
of this department, as becomes the custodian of the most important 
manuscript in Maya literature. From 400 to 500 books, treatises, and 
notices, some from quite obscure American journals, have been 
recorded there by Doctor Haebler, with extraordinary labor and the 
greatest care. Thus this literature has been rescued from the deplor- 
ably scattered condition which characterized it, owing to the fact 
that the book market supports no special journal for Maya literature, 
nor even one for Central American research in general. It is a 
matter of course that absolute completeness and perfect accuracy are 
unattainable, and for this reason I am glad to be able to announce 
that Mr Marshall H. Savillc, of New York, whom we have recog- 
nized as an earnest worker in this field since 1892, is just now occu- 
pied with a Maya bibliography, which we shall rejoice to see placed 
side by side with the German one, and which will certainly add much 
that is new to the material already in our possession. 

We, too, have new and important matter to record, which has 
appeared since the German bibliographer issued his treatise. The 
fourth volume of the Veroffentlichungen aus dem Koniglichen 
Museum fiir Volkerkunde, issued in 1895, contains two valuable 
treatises in close succession, namely, on pages 13 to 20, "Altindianische 
Ansiedelungen in Guatemala ", by Karl Sapper, and on pages 21 to 53, 

" Neue Mayaforschungen, Globus, v. 70, n. 3, 1896. 

53Y 



538 BUREAU OF AMEEICAlSr ETHNOLOGY [edll. 28 

"Altertiimer aiis Guatemala ", by Eduard Seler. The names of these 
two German investigators, Sapper and Seler, who are both entitled 
to a hearing by virtue of long or frequent sojourns in the country of 
which they write, and w^ho have given us most valuable results from 
their serious researches, are guarantees that the two papers contain 
welcome information. We may undoubtedly expect further com- 
munications in this particular field from Mr Seler in the near 
future, for on February 9, 1896, he writes from Tonala, in Mexico, 
to the Geographical Society in Berlin that he is on the point of going 
to Guatemala. 

Furthermore, the long-delayed appearance of the fifth part, text 
as well as illustrations, of the "Archaeology " of A. P. Maudslay. 
which, oddly enough, forms a part of the Biologia Centrali- Ameri- 
cana, or Contributions to the Knowledge of the Fauna and Flora of 
Mexico and Central America, is very gratifying. Maudslay confines 
himself in the text, as he has done before, chiefly to the story of his 
investigations and the description of the structures Avhich have 
been found. Mythology and the study of inscriptions are not so 
much in his province, and yet both departments can derive great 
benefit from the admirable illustrations. AVhile the earlier parts 
were chiefly concerned with Copan and Quirigua, that is, with the 
region inland from the Gulf of Flonduras, this fifth part carries us 
some 6° farther north and treats of the extensive ruins of Chichen- 
Itza, which have not been described for nearly two decades, and only 
very meagerly before that time. From my point of view it is espe- 
cially important and gratifying that these ruins also show a consid- 
erable number of inscriptions which, as a rule, rarely occur north of 
18° north latitude, whereas Chichen-Itza lies 2|° farther north. I 
will here mention what seems to me a very interesting as well as 
important point. 

Wliile the Aztecs indicate the number 5 only by five small discon- 
nected circles, the Maya represent it by a straight line; thus the latter 
obtain two number signs, the point or circle and the line. In this way 
only is it possible for them to represent large numbers wdth so much 
ease, which the Aztecs could never succeed in doing with their circles 
and their signs for 20, 400, and 8,000. I had hitherto been familiar 
with this line for 5 only in the Maya manuscripts, in all of which it is 
very common, also in the inscriptions of the ruins and vessels of 
Palenque, Coban, Quirigua, and Copan, and finally in the wooden 
tablets of Tikal, but not in anything coming from Uxmal or Labna in 
the north of Yucatan. Hence, all the more eagerly I hailed the pres- 
ence of this sign in Chichen-Itza, where it occurs very often. 

The familiar Ben-Ik sign occurring often in manuscripts and 
inscriptions, for which I proposed an interpretation in the Globus, 



lORSTEMANN.] RECENT MAYA INVESTIGATIONS 539 

volume 65, number 20, is also frequently met with here. It even 
occurs in connection with ahau, with which it is otherwise rarely seen. 
We likewise see here the frecjuent glyphs kan, ahau, imix, kin, and 
others, in their usual and easily recognizable form. 

The frequently occurring day glyph Manik is worthy of note here. 
According to Mr Seler it represents a hand grasping upward, which 
is distinctly corroborated by the inscriptions of Chichen-ltza, for they 
reproduce tlie liand very clearly, even with the thumb nail and that 
of the forefinger (it is to be hoped that the illustrations do not give 
more than the originals). I now also understand the Maya sign for 
the west, which I no longer take for the sign of the east, as I did in 
1886. Manik with kin represented below it shows how the sun has 
descended from above. Reversed, kin with Ahau above, it means 
the east, the beginning of the dominant sun. The south is similarly 
symbolized by the sign yax (" strength ") with the scales above it, 
while the north is represented by the polar, star, god C. But what can 
be meant where the day Manik on the upper part of plate xii is com- 
bined three times with an 8? Does it signify an eighth day of the 
week? A similar question arises from the fact that we see the num- 
ber 11 combined with the sign which indicates either the day Cauac 
or one of the three months Yax, Zac, and Ceh, for the four cases are 
all characterized by the symbol resembling a bunch of grapes 
(honey?). The combination of 11 (Zac is the ele\'^enth month) with 
this glyph appears on the two plates xii and xix. Curiously enough 
the sign Ahau with Ben-Ik above it follows it in both cases. 

Unfortunately, in Chichen-ltza the stelae seem to be as completely 
lacking as Maudslay has reported them numerous in Copan and Qui- 
rigua; for that reason the interesting exact dates which are expressed 
by means of large numbers are also wanting here. I have likewise 
been unable to find an example of the usual calendar dates, which 
consist of two numbers and two glyphs, and which are found not only 
in the manuscripts, but are very numerous elsewhere; for example, 
on the Cross of Palenque. 

With this we leave the work of Maudslay, with the hope that he 
may vigorously prosecute his researches, and also that his work maj 
come into more extended use than has hitherto been the case. 

I must now mention the Verhandlungen der Berliner Gesellschaft 
fiir Anthropologie, of the regular session of December 21, 1895. Here 
my friend Doctor Schellhas, as he has done before more than once, pre- 
sents three essays by our mutual friend Dieseldorff at Coban (Guate- 
mala) : (1) A Relief from Chipolem, (2) Cukulcan, and (3) The Vase 
of Chama. The three essays all show how successfully Mr Diesel- 
dorff continues to conduct his researches and how satisfactorily the 
material at his command has increased (as well as the scientific col- 



540 BUKEAU OF AMEEICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

lections). I shall pass over the difficult and much discussed Cukulcan 
question, which has been touched upon in both the first and third 
essays, for I do not like to venture upon mythologic ground. 

In reference to the Vase of Chama, both Seler and Dieseldorll' have 
taken exceptions to my attempted explanation of it, and in this they 
may not be wholly wrong. But it is never safe to attack certain 
details, if other details which, in connection with the former, both 
pictorially and in writing, tend to establish the general fundamental 
idea of the representation are passed over in silence. 

While writing this I have received from Mr Philipp J. J. Valen- 
tini, of New York, the second part of his "Analysis of the Pictorial 
Text Inscribed on Two Palenque Tablets ", reprinted from the Pro- 
ceedings of the xA-merican Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Mass., 
1896. The author, whom since 1878 we have esteemed as an earnest 
investigator in this field, continues to discuss the two sides of the 
inscription on the so-called .cross monument. He offers many obser- 
vations, which certainly contain much of lasting worth, from the 
store of knowledge gathered chiefly during his long stay in the states 
of Central America. But it is all the more to be regretted that, con- 
trary to the method prevailing on almost all Maya monuments, he 
persists in reading every column separately from top to bottom, 
instead of always taking two columns together. Consequently, his 
conception of many of the details, as well as of the whole, is incorrect. 
It is necessary to become cognizant of the whole framework of this 
inscription, which consists of a number of calendar dates, with their 
intervals stated in numbers. Only then will it be possible to recog- 
nize more clearly the remaining signs, by means of which the events 
occurring in the intervals must be determined. 

In the articles mentioned thus far the authors express themselves 
variousl}^ on the question actually underlying all these investigations, 
namely, the relation to each other of the two civilizations that are 
here under consideration, the Aztec (Nahua) on the one side, and 
the Maya on the other. In his article Altertiimer aus Guatemala 
Doctor Seler adopts the theory of a movement of the Maya southward 
(page 24), while (page 46) he speaks of a southward migration of the 
Nahuas (as far as Nicaragua) from Tabasco, and even suggests that 
they may have migrated to Yucatan. Mr Dieseldorff (page 774), on 
the contrary, holds the theory that Maya art was developed independ- 
ently, and that the connecting link between the two civilizations indi- 
cates an exchange of cultural influences between them in which the 
Maya race was the giver and the Nahua was the receiver. He is of 
the opinion that the unfortunate downfall of the Maya power one or 
two centuries before the Conquista was directly caused by the Nahuas. 
On page 776 he advances the idea that the Nahua received their deity 
Quetzalcoatl, from the Toltecs, and that the Toltecs were a Maya 



FOESTEMANN.] RECENT MAYA INVESTIGATIONS 541 

tribe. Finally, Mr Valentini expresses the opinion that the Mayas 
were the aboriginal race and the Aztecs " mere parasites ", 

Now that these expressions of opinion and countless earlier discus- 
sions on the same subject lie before us, it is time that for once a con- 
sistent hypothesis should be framed regarding the whole matter, on 
the principle of the old adage that even a faulty hypothesis is better 
than none at all, and that all progress must have a point from which 
it advances. 

In this case, however, such an hypothesis must seek to offer an 
explanation for the following facts : 

1. The similarity and at the pame time the difference of the two 
civilizations. 

2. The antiquity and mystery of the vanished Toltec race. 

3. The entire separation of the Huastecs in 22° north latitude 
(between Tampico and San Louis Potosi) from all other Maya tribes 
and their distinguishing characteristics. 

4. The equally complete separation from the other Aztec tribes of 
the Pipiles (in southeastern Guatemala), and of those Aztecs who had 
pushed forward as far as Nicaragua. 

5. The curious fact that almost no Aztec place names appear in 
Yucatan, while they are met with by hundreds in Chiapas, Guate- 
mala, and Honduras as far as Nicaragua, leaving almost no traces 
of Maya names on the maps. 

On the other hand, little care need be taken to make the hypothesis 
agree with the ancient native accounts of wars and migrations. If it 
does, then such accounts will always be welcome in spite of their 
legendary nature. 

In presenting my hypothesis as a connected chain of opinions, I 
ask those who attack any one of these opinions, and thus propose to 
destroy a link of this chain, to take care at the same time to replace 
it by another and a stronger link. 

I assume that in the most ancient period of Central American his- 
tory with which we are acquainted the country from about 23° to 
10° of north latitude was chiefly inhabited by different tribes of the 
Maya race. Indeed, one can assume that, beyond the mainland, this 
race also occupied the island of Cuba, which is still archeologically 
unknown. Such a theory is favored by certain facts connected with 
the first expedition of Cortes (see, for example, Peter Martyr, pages 
10 and 11 of the edition of 1521). \Vliile this race was still at quite a 
low stage of civilization the Aztecs advanced out of the north from 
at least 26° north latitude. Their advance took place on the Pacific, 
not on the Atlantic, side (Brinton, American Race, page 128), and 
this explains the fact that the Huastecs remained almost undisturbed 
in the east. Maya civilization soon influenced the Aztecs very per- 
ceptibly and it was natural at first that they should call the Mayas 



542 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

Toltec after one of their northern branches, the inhabitants of the 
region about Tula, in the north of Mexico. That, when connection 
between the Aztec and Maya became clearer, the Toltecs passed more 
and more out of view and at last became legendary reminds one of the 
Allemands, who are not found in Germany at all at the present day, 
or of the Graeci in Greece, etc. Incidentally, I am reminded of the 
place Toltecapan, east of Mexico and north of Tlaxcala. 

The Aztecs adopted as their own many things which they learned 
from the Mayas, especially their deities, whose names they simply 
translated. The translation of Cukulcan into Quetzalcoatl is a very 
typical case, for kuk (in the Pocomchi dialect) and quetzal des- 
ignate the bird Pharomacrus mocinno or Trogon resplendens, and 
can and coatl mean the snake. That the Mayas had already devel- 
oped their writing in this locality is inconceivable. This first took 
place in the center of their territory, in the region of Guatemala. 
The Aztecs first came in contact with the higher civilization developed 
here after a migration into the Mixtec and Zapotec territories had 
taken place, which was not very long before the arrival of the Span- 
iards, so that they did not have time here to establish their supremacy 
and to absorb the Mayas, but, on the contrary, were absorbed by 
them. The Pipiles on the outposts on Lake Nicaragua, which had 
advanced farthest and passed beyond the principal territory of the 
Mayas, alone preserved their individuality. 

Now, whence come the hundreds of Aztec names in the territories 
between Chiapas and Nicaragua? In this connection we must note 
that these names are confined almost entirely to the important 
settlements, Avhile the unimportant places bear designations belong- 
ing to the language of the Indians settled there. The Aztec names 
of the more important places, moreover, are really used only officially 
and hence are on the maps. That part of the population which 
keeps aloof from the Spanish-speaking part uses only the names 
derived from the native language. Aztecs as well as Mayas use and 
always preferred to use place names which are verbally compre- 
hensible to them, and on this account they employ for the name 
which they can not understand a native expression, a translation, or 
some other substitute. Hence in this case Sapper concludes, Globus, 
volume 66, pages 95 and 96, that these Aztec names were mostly 
given to the places by the Spaniards, who, as we know, were familiar 
with Aztec, and by their Mexican auxiliary troops, but that this 
tendency had ceased by 1535. For this reason, according to him, 
Aztec names are not found in Yucatan, Avhich was not conquered 
from Mexico. I confess that at first I was not in sympathy with this 
view, but I can not replace it by a more acceptable one. 

The higher Maya civilization which grew up around Guatemala 
had not yet fully spread over Yucatan when its further development 



rOKSTBMANN.] 



RECENT MAYA INVESTIGATIONS 543 



was checked in the south by the Spaniards and by the Mexican influ- 
ence which came with them. It probably had not histed very long, 
if my opinion, expressed in Zur Entzifferung der Mayahandschriften, 
IV, page 9, that the stela? of Copan do not date further back than the 
fifteenth century is found to be correct. 

There may occasionally be an isolated Aztec name that strayed 
into northern Yucatan ; I am reminded of Mayapan, lying southeast 
from Merida, for names ending in pan are Aztec. It remains to be 
proved whether the narratives of the old native chroniclers, who 
attach special importance to this Mayapan, throw any further light 
on that matter. 

I expect, however, the most light in reference to Yucatan from the 
investigations which Teobert Maler is carrying out on a gigantic 
scale, of which the Globus, volume 68, pages 245 to 259 and 277 to 
292, gives such brilliant evidences. It is to be hoped that the results 
of these investigations will soon appear as a whole.*^ 

After concluding this article I received the eighth publication of 
the Field Columbian Museum of Chicago, which forms the first 
number of the anthropological series. It has the special title 
Archaeological Studies Among the Ancient Cities of Mexico, by 
William H. Holmes, part 1 (Monuments of Yucatan), Chicago, 
1895. The author here treats of the first part of a three months' 
journey, from December, 1894, to February, 1895, to Yucatan, Chia- 
pas, and Oaxaca, and describes first what he saw of Maya ruins in 
the little explored region of northeastern Yucatan, from Cape Ca- 
toche to Tulum, and in the islands off that coast, Cozumel, Mugeres, 
etc. ; then follows an account of a brief visit to Uxmal, Izamal, and 
Chichen-Itza. The rest of the journey (Palenque, Oaxaca) is re- 
served for a later number. The whole is a very welcome report on 
the extant buildings, together Avith a very clear survey of Maya 
architecture in general, which verifies and supplements much that is 
already known. I wish especially to mention the large number of 
illustrations accompanying it, among which I call particular atten- 
tion to the plans of the site of Uxmal and Chichen-Itza and a general 
view of the ruins, which for the first time give us a really clear com- 
prehension of these magnificent ruined piles. 

"They buve beeu piiblislied as a Memoir of the Peabody Museiim, vol. II, n. 1', C. T. 



THE INSCRIPTION ON THE CROSS OF 

PALENQUE 



E. FORSTElNlAISriSr 



545 

7238— No. 28—05 35 



THE INSCRIPTION ON THE CROSS OF 

PALENQUE" 



By E. Forstemann 



It is high time for science to occupy itself with the meaning of the 
most famous inscription of ancient America, even though it will be 
a long time before a complete decipherment of this monument can be 
achieved. 

The ruins of Palenque have been known since the middle of the 
last century, and as early as 1787 they were investigated and partly 
sketched by Antonio del Eio. The inscription on the Cross, in par- 
ticular, early aroused the attention of the amateur and the scientist. 
Since the beginning of om^ century it has been mentioned frequently, 
discussed superficially, and copied many times. Especially through 
the admirable drawing in J. L. Stephens's Incidents of Travel in 
Central America, Chiapas, and Yucatan, this monument has become 
widely known since 1841. 

But the question as to the real meaning of this tablet (plate xli) 
has been approached with great hesitation, although it was clear at 
the first glance that the middle part represented a great sacrificial 
scene ; the glyphs, about 250 in number on both sides of it, however, 
remained dumb. 

I can call attention to but three works in which the first attempts 
have been made to treat the subject in a strictly scientific spirit. I 
refer to the three following treatises : 

1. Charles Rau, The Palenque Tablet in the United States National 
Museum. Washington, 1879. ( Smithsonian Contributions to Knowl- 
edge, volume 22, Washington, 1880.) This work is of decided merit 
in the history it gives of the inscription, as Avell as in the designa- 
tion, first introduced by Eau,, of the vertical and horizontal lines by 
letters and numbers, which designation I have likewise adopted m 
the following. Ran also examines some glyphs of this tablet, but is 
successful only in the case of a few almost self-explanatory day signs. 
Concerning the main question, the meaning, he comes pretty near to 



Die Kreuzinschrift von Palenque, Globus, v. 72, n. 3, July 17, 1897. 

541 



548' BUREAU OF AMEEICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

the truth in his remark on page 63: "I venture to suggest that the_ 
inscription constitutes a chronologic record of some kind ". 

2. Cyrus Thomas, A Study of the Manuscript Troano. Wash- 
ington!^ 1882. This contains the special chapter, pages 198 to 208: 
Inscriptions on the Palenque Tablet. The author here settles, beyond 
dispute, the order in which the inscription is to be read (two columns 
at a time). With his accustomed carefulness he examines one series 
of characters and, although he does not accomplish his purpose, he 
very nearly succeeds in reading correctly the various periods occur- 
ring here. 

3. Philipp J. J. Valentini, Analysis of the Pictorial Text Inscribed 
on Two Palenque Tablets; parts 1 and 2. Worcester, Mass., 1895- 
1896. Valentini lays stress on the decided ritual character of the 
inscription; at the beginning of the first column he finds the por- 
traits of the founders of the theocracy of the country, and farther 
on the scattered pictures of later priests, with an account of their 
time and the manner of their ritual activity. He especially directs 
his attention to the discussion of the separate day signs and the 
relation between the monumental characters of the inscription and the 
cursive characters of the manuscripts, in the course of which he 
makes a number of suggestive observations. The author unfor- 
tunately adheres to the idea of reading each column separately, and 
so deprives himself of the possibility of finding the right way to 
interpret the connection. 

In what follows I shall abstain from all controversy with my 
predecessors and leave my opinions to vindicate themselves. . 

Long after the following had been written, I received a treatise by 
Lewis W. Gunckel printed in the American Anthropologist for May,, 
1897: The Direction in which Mayan Inscriptions Should be Read. 
This memoir treats chiefly of the inscription of the Cross, but does 
not touch upon its meaning, merely discussing the succession of the 
characters, a point which I had long since settled in my own mmd 
and which Mr Gunckel also recognizes. 

We see, therefore, that little progress has been made hitherto 
toward comprehending the meaning of the Cross inscription. But 
we are fortmiately enabled by the successful interpretation of the 
Maya numeral system and the discovery of the meaning of several 
glyphs to make a considerable advance in this direction. 
"^ This progress results chiefly, however, from the observation that 
the inscriptions of the Maya region, excepting some short inscriptions 
on buildings and altars, are of two dilf erent kinds : 

(1) The^so-called stelae, which, as a rule, display glyphs in pairs of 
vertical rows, beginning at the top with a large number lying between 
one and one ancl a half millions, which, reckoned from the starting 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 




PAINTED CLAY IMAGE OF THE GOD MAGUIL XC 

SELER COLLECTION, ROYA 



BULLETIN 28, PLATE XLIl 




rL (FIVE FLOWER), FROM TEOTITLAN DEL CAMINO 

3EUM OF ETHNOLOGY, BERLIN 



FORSTEMANN.] INSCKIPTION ON THE CEOSS OF PALENQUE 549 

point of Maj^a chronology, denotes the present day or at least a day 
that is near the present. 

(2) The broader inscriptions, the framework of which consists of 
calendar dates, between which large numbers are interspersed that 
state the interval between each two dates. Between these dates and 
intervals there are some other glyphs, for the most part still wholly 
unexplained. The Cross inscription belongs to this second class. 

Leaving aside the center of this tablet as not pertinent to my pres- 
ent task, I will now give here the six columns of glyphs on each side, 
containing seventeen glyphs each, to be seen on the left and right 
of the central sacrificial scene (plate xliii). 

Thus we see here 201 glyphs. There would be 17X12=204 were 
not the first four places above on the left occupied by a single char- 
acter, the superscription, such as is customary in inscriptions of both 
kinds (with some variants). In this case this superscription con- 
sists of three parts, aside from the ornaments added at the top and 
bottom. The character for the year of 360 days occupies the chief 
place ; on the right and left of it are added the fins, by which the year 
is increased twentyf old, that is, to 7,200 days ; above it we see a char- 
acter never yet discussed, to which we must ascribe the meaning of 
20X7,200=144,000 days, as will be shown farther on. 

This superscription, compounded of the three largest time periods 
in use, accordingly means something like " chronologic guidfe '' or 
" historic table ". 

The larger part of the two columns A and B under this superscrip- 
tion seems like an introduction or a guide to the remainder. It 
sets forth certain glyphs of special importance, necessary for the com- 
prehension of the rest. Signs B 4 and B 5 are important to u? 
as having been interpreted beyond question, for I may now assu]ne 
that their meaning, 7,200 and 360 days, is fully recognized. Then 
follows, almost of necessity, B 3=144,000 days, as the sign of a simi- 
lar form in the superscription has led us to conjecture, and as we see 
it repeated in C 5, F 6, U 2, and V 12. 

I am equally certain that I see in B.6 the sign for 20 days, although 
it has no resemblance to the corresponding signs in the manuscripts. 
This is confirmed by no fewer than sixteen succeeding passages in this 
inscription. The character employed here appears to be a day sign, 
Chuen, and such it has already been considered by others. As this 
day lies in the middle of a 20-day period beginning with Imix, it may, 
perhaps, denote the whole period. 

Now, the four characters B 3 to B 6 are each connected with a 
picture, A 3 to A 6. These can hardly be pictures of anything but 
gods, who preside over such periods, although up to this point we 
have known nothing of these deities. In fact, in F 10 instead of the 



550 BUREAU OF AMERICAlSr ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

sign for 360 we notice the corresponding picture, just as the same sub- 
stttution occurs on other monuments; for instance, on the inscrip- 
tions in Stephens, English edition, D Y and H 11 in the beginning of 
volume 2, the same on page 342, and the first sign on page 7. 

Now, B T is quite logically the sign kin, the single day. In A 7 
there is no longer a picture belonging to it, but a hand, probably 
because the single days were simply counted on the fingers. I will 
not attempt to explain the figure drawn above the hand. In D 4 
Ave see the same character reversed, the hand on top, the rest below. 

In B 8 follows Ahau, the most important of the days, and in A 8 
the god D (Izamna) belonging to it. This deity is recognized by the 
open mouth and the solitary tooth, visible in some copies of this pas- 
sage. 

Concerning A 9 and B 9 I hardly venture a conjecture. Are these 
signs meant to express the day 20 ( Akbal) and the god B (Cukulcan) ? 

Thus far the characters in A are joined to those in B with no inter- 
vening space. From here on each of the two signs in the adjacent col- 
umns is independently drawn. 

In B 10 we notice the numeral 5. It seems as if A 10 and B 10 
might denote the 5 unlucky days at the end of the year. 

A 11 I do not know how to explain ; it must refer to B 11. The 
latter, however, is composed of the numeral 2, a face looking toward 
the left, and a hand pointing to the right. It might be considered as 
suggesting the change from the old year to the new, the last day of 
the old and the first day of the new year, which two days are the 
principal subject of representation in pages, 25 to 28 of the Dresden 

codex. 

A 12 and B 12 are wholly obscure to me. 

In A 13 we see a crescent and under it the numeral 9. Nine lunar 
revolutions formed a sacred period, especially as this length of time 
nearly corresponded with the tonalamatl. The moon sign in B 13 
must be closely related to A 13. 

, In regard to the four characters, A 14 to B 15, 1 am unable to decide 
whether they are to be regarded as the end of this introduction or as 
the preliminaries of the real subject-matter of the inscription. 
• With A 16 begins the regular alternation of dates and periods, 
which continues to the end of this tablet. 

The points of time, or calendar dates, as I proved long ago, have 
the formula : I 17 ; 18, I7th month. 

This formula designates a certain specified day recurring after a 
period of 52 years, that is, the first day of the 13-day week when it 
is the seventeenth of the 20-day period and the eighteenth of the sev- 
enteenth so-called month. 

The time periods, on the other hand, have as the first sign that tor 
the 20-day period, which we have already found in B 6. There is a 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 

A. B. C. D. E. F. 



S. 



BULLETIN 28 PLATE XLII 

U. V. W. X. 



10 



11 



12 



13 



14 



15 



16 



17 




10 



11 



12 



13 



14 



15 



16 



17 



INSCRIPTION ON THE TABLET OF THE CROSS-PALENQUE 



r5KSTEMANN.] INSCRIPTION ON THE CROSS OF PALENQUE 551 

number both above and before it. The first states how many such 
periods are meant; the second, how many additional single days. 
Then follow the signs for 360, 7,200, and occasionally also for 
144,000 days, provided with numbers which indicate how many such 
periods there are. 

In accordance with this the following is the actual framework of 
the inscription: 

Date Interval 

1 .A16B16 D1C2 

2 D3C4 D5C6 

3 . _-C9D9 D 10 

4 CUD 11 D13-D14 

5 E 1 F 1 F 5-F 6 

6 E 9 F 9 E 10-F 11 

7 F 12 E 13 F 15-F 16 

8 T2S3 T 3 

9 S4T4 S6T6 

10 T8S9 T9 

11 ..-.SIOTIO S12T12 

12 S14T14 S15 

18 T 17 U 1 U 3-U 4 

14 U7V7 U8-U9 

15 U 10 V 10 V 13-V 14 

16 -U 17 V 17 W 1-W 2 

17 X5W6 X6-W7 

18 .X low 11 X 11-X 12 

19-:. ..-W 14X14 W15X15 

Of the pairs of glyphs, which together express a certain date, 
the first (A 16, D 3, C 9, etc.) must always designate one of the 20 
days, the second (B 16, C 4, D 9, etc.) one of the 18 so-called months. 
This observation will decidedly facilitate the final deciphering of 
this and of kindred inscriptions, although progress in this direction 
is checked by countless difficulties— variants, deviations of the monu- 
mental from the written text, abrasion, and disintegration. If I 
w^ere to review the entire tablet in detail, the numerous queries would 
still give the impression of a barren waste. I can only direct atten- 
tion here to a few points of special interest. 

The study of the first two dates and the intervening period is 
already sufficiently interesting. It reminds us of the beginning of 
the large numbers and dates on page 24 (below on the left) of the 
Dresden codex. Here we found two dates 

I 17 ; 18, 17th month. 
IV 17 ; 8, 18th month. 

and perceived that they were separated by 2,200 (8X260-f 6X20) 
days. Now, we find in the Cross inscription : 

A 16 : I, 17 B 16 : 18, unknown month. 
D 3 ; IV 17 C 4 ; 8, 18th month. 

Between them, however, is D 1, the sign for 20, and above it, as 
there was no room on the left, in all probability a 6 (the 1 for lack of 



552 BUEEAU OF AMERICAlSr ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

room close to the 5), and in addition C 2, an unknown glyph, with 
8 prefixed. I think that nothing is more natural than to regard the 
obscure character B 16 as the seventeenth month (Kayab) and C 2 
as a glyph for the tonalamatl. The stonecutter of the Cross 
inscription, therefore, proceeds from the same two dates from which 
the writer of the Dresden codex proceeds, and this fact increases the 
probability, already appearing from other circumstances, that the 
Dresden codex had its origin not far from Palenque, probably in 
the district of the Tzentals, who, therefore, should receive closer atten- 
tion from this time forward. 

' In spite of many difficulties the interpretation of a few of these 
groups can be considered correct, as the specified period agrees with 
a preceding and following date, inasmuch as it is the interval between 
them. I here give some examples in which, in order to facilitate the 
examination, I will state the years found by computation in which 
the dates are contained. 

The simplest example is the twelfth date, the twelfth period, and 
the thirteenth date, as follows : 

S 14 T 14: II 14; 10, 6th month. (11 Muluc.) 

S 15: 3+6x20=123. 

T 17 U 1 : VIII 17 ; 13, 12th month. (11 Muluc.) 

In fact, day II 14 precedes VIII 17 by 123 days, and day 10, 6th 

month is 123 days before 13, 12th month. The year remains the same. 

I will add that day VIII 17 in the last part of the Dresden codex 

is of special importance (see my second treatise, " Zur EntziiTerung 

der Mayahandschriften ", pages 14 to 17). 

The example directly preceding also corresponds admirably. It 
forms the eleventh and twelfth dates and the eleventh intervening 
period. 

S 10 T 10 : XI 5 ; 6, 6th month. (11 Kan.) 

g 12 T 12: 9+3X20+13x360=4,749. 

S 14 T 14: II 14; 10. 6th month. (11 Muluc.) 

The space between the two dates is actually 4,749=18X260+69^ 
13X365+4. And 69 is in fact the distance from XI 5 to II 14, 4 the 
distance from 6, 6th month to 10, 6th month. 

In addition, I would mention the second and third dates and the 
second period : 

D 3 C 4: IV 17; 8, 18th month. (9 Ix.) 

D 5 C 6: 2+9X20+360=542. 

C 9 D 9: XIII 19; 20, 8th month. (11 Kan.) 

It should be noticed here that an affix is attached to the sign for 
360, C 6, which seems to me to denote the close of this period and to 
prevent the next sign D 6 from being added to it. Moreover, D 9 
probably denotes the eighth month : but its prefix, according to my 
supposition, only denotes the close of the month. 



F6RSTEMANN.] INSCRIPTION ON THE CROSS OF PALENQUB 553 

Now, 542=2X260+22=365+177. The day IV 17, actually pre- 
cedes the day XIII 19 by just 22 days. But the day 8, 18th month is 
distant 177 days from 20, 8th month of the following year, and there^ 
fore distant 365+177=542 days from the same day 2 years later. 

A most singular error results if the dates 17 and 18 are compared 
with the intervening period 17. The inscription here reads as follows : 

X 5 W 6: II 18; 4, 12tli month. (1 Caiiac.) 

X6W 7: 1+30+360=381. 

X 10 W 11: VII 1; 17, 8th month. (8 Mulnc.) 

Now, II 18 to VII 1=83 ; and 4, 12th month to 17, 8th month=298. 
The sum of the two numbers is 381, which is recorded as the interval 
of time between them, while in reality the two dates are separated by 
;lg^Y23=45X 365+298 or 64X260+83. It is plain therefore that the 
characters were engraved on the stone before the computation was 

completed. 

In one instance the month seems to be omitted. This occurs in F 9, 
in the date which ends a period in the inscription. I here combine 
the starting point of the whole computation with the sixth date : 

A 16 B 16: I 17; 18, 17th month. (3 Kan.) 

E F 5 and 6: 2+11X20+7X360+1X7,200+2X144,000=297,942. 

E 9: IX 19; completed, 15, 4th month. (1 Multic.) 

If, since after 18,980 (52X365) days, the dates have the same posi- 
tion in the year, 15X18,980=284,700 is subtracted from 297,942, 
13 242 days remain. But 13,242=50X260+242=36X365+102. And 
the time from I 17 to IX 19 is actually 242; from 18, l7th month to 
15, 4th month, 102 days; I therefore believe that it is not venturing 
too much thus to complete the date. 

The passage F 6, moreover, is the only one in the inscription where 
a multiple of 144,000 really follows the sign for 7,200, as would be 
expected. Such a multiple of 144,000, indeed, occurs three more times, 
but in C 5 it is 8X144,000, and here it stands directly before the 
period beginning with the single days, while in U 2 and V 12 we have 
nine times and five times this number, but separated m each case from 
the succeeding period by a glyph (V 2 and U 13, differing from each 
other) . Here is a problem to be solved m the future. 

An attempt, however, with the sign U 2 seems to be successful. Let 
us compare the thirteenth with the fourteenth date : 

T 17 U 1- VIII 17: 13, 12th month. (11 Muluc.) 

U 2 U V 3 U 4: 9X144,000+18+20+8X360+1X7,200=1,306,118. 

U 7 V 7: III 15; 16, 1st month? (2 Kan.) 

That the indistinct last sign denotes the first month is, of course, 
only a conjecture; also that a line is lacking in the number 11 stand- 
ing before it. If it is correct then everything agrees, for 1,306,118— 



554 BUREAU OF AMEEICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

68X18,080=15,478, but this equals 59X260+188=42X365+148. 
From VIII 17 to III 15 is 138; from 13, :l2tli month to 16, 1st month 

is 148. 

In another case, where I combine the fourth iind fifth dates with the 
fourth period, I must hazard two conjectures. First, it seems to me 
that in D 11 the actual starting point of Maya chronology, the eighth 
day of the eighteenth month, is not designated by the same sign as in 
C 4, but instead by the old god (Izamna), the lord of the day 17 
standing beside it ; and, second, I believe that the indistinct prefix of 
D 13 is to be read as 2. These postulates being accepted, we have the 
following result : 

C 11 D 11 : X 17; 8, IStli montb. (2 Ix.) 
D 13, C 14 D 14: 2+12x20+3x360+18x7,200=130,922. 
B 1 F 1 : IX 19 ; 15, 12th month. (10 Muluc.) 
If the number 113,880=6X18,980 is subtracted from 130,922, there 
are left 17,042 days=65X260+142=46X365+252, and 142 is the 
interval between X 17 and IX 19, while 252 is the interval between 
8, 18th month and 15, 12th month. 

Perhaps it is also worthy of notice here that, if 20 years (20X365) 
are subtracted from 17,042, 9,742 days remain, which we recognized 
as a recurrent and very remarkable number in the last part of the 
Dresden codex (see Zur Entzifferung der Mayahandschriften, II, 
pages 16 and 18). » 

This number, 9,742, results still more directly if the second date is 
combined with the fifth date just now under discussion: 

D 3 C 4 : IV 17 ; 8, 18th month. (9 Ix.) 

E 1 F 1 : IX 19 ; 15, 12th month. (10 Muluc.) 

The two dates are indeed separated by 9,742=27X365—113 days, 
for 9,742 equals 37x260+122=26X365+252; but there are in fact 
122 days between IV 17 and IX 19, and 252 days between 8, 18th 
month and 15, 12th month. It is remarkable that this period of 9,742 
days does not seem to be expressed anywhere on the inscription ; per- 
haps it is denoted by a character still unknown. 

These examples will suffice to point out the way along which fur- 
ther investigation, not merely of this but of other Maya inscriptions, 
must be pursued. And I have reasons for desiring an early successor 

in this work. 

We have seen that as a rule each date is connected with the one 
immediately preceding it, for I could proceed from the dates 1, 2, 4, 
11 12 13, and 17 directly to 2, 3, 5, 12, 13, 14, and 18. But I have 
made a jump only from 1 and 2 to 6 and 5, though I will mention also 
that I have jiunped from 1 to 7 for my own satisfaction, apparently 

not incorrectly. 

It appears, therefore, that a more or less direct reference to the 
starting points of the whole computation occurs m the three dates of 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



BULLETIN 28 PLATE XLIV 





m (c 






mi 



may y 






10 



1^ 




11 



12 






a 




15 




ft© 




18 










23 



tmiii 







28 29 



GLYPHS FROM THE TEMPLE OF INSCPIPTIONS AT PALENQUE 



FOKSTEMANN.] INSCRIPTION ON THE CROSS OF PALENQUE 555 

columns E and F. And these three days are peculiar in that they all 
three (E 1, E 9, and F 12) proceed from the same day, IX 19. How 
may this be accounted for ? 

I now add an observation in which Cyrus Thomas has led the way. 
In nine passages of the inscription we find two unknown glyphs, the 
same ones each time in immediate succession : F 7 E 8, S and T 1, T 7 
S 8, T 15 S 16, U and V 6, V 11 U 12, U and V 16, W and X 3, and W 
and X 17. Six times this pair of signs occurs between the interval 
and the following date; in U 6 V 6 it occurs between two dates, in 
V 11 U 12 between the date and the following interval, in W X 17 at 
the end of the whole inscription after an interval. The character- 
istic of the first signals a hand pointing forward, that of the second, 
a kin ('' sun ", " day ") ; accordingly, they may perhaps mean nothing 
more than " counting of the days ". The sense must be very general, 
otherwise it would not occur in nine places. 



THE DAY GODS OF THE MAYAS 



E. FORSTEMANIST 



557 



THE DAY GODS OF THE MAYAS" 



By E. Forstemann 



To assign to each day a certain god as a ruler or protector is a wide- 
spread custom, a trace of which is still perceptible in Europe to-day, 
inasmuch as we still call our week days after heathen deities. 

This custom also prevailed in the domain of Aztec and Maya cul- 
ture. "With regard to its practice among the Aztecs, Doctor Seler, 
in particular, has given us considerable information in the Compte 
rendu of the Berlin Americanist Congress of 1888 in his great 
treatise on the Aubin Tonalamatl. In reference to the Mayas, this 
scholar says in his treatise on the names of the Maya gods represented 
in the Dresden manuscript (1887), page 230, that it appears from the 
old Relacion of the Priest Hernandez (which I am unable to consult) 
that Cukulcan was the chief of the 20 gods, who, according to the 
description, clearly denoted the deities of the 20 day signs. 

Many names and glyphs of Maya and Aztec gods combined with 
numbers always refer to certain specified days not in the series of 20 
but in that of the 260 days of the tonalamatl, especially those of the 
Mayas beginning with Hun (1), and those of the Aztecs beginning 
with Macuil (5). 

From the account of Nunez de la Vega, as well as from that of 
Francisco Fernandez, whose narrative is preserved by Bartholome de 
las Casas, it appears that, generally speaking, the 20 days were each 
dedicated to a god or lord. 

Such day gods have been handed down to us from certain parts of 
the country, not only in a general way, but special ones for special 
days. 

Thus it is said of the first day, Kan, that among the Tzentals in 
Chiapas and Tabasco (who, by the way, were the probable authors of 
the monuments of Palenque and of the Dresden manuscript) this day 
had been called Ghanan, and Ghanan had been a divinity in those 
localities (see Brinton, Mayan Hieroglyphs, pages 62, 123). 

The fifth day, Lamat, is designated among the Kiche-Cakchikels 
in Guatemala by Kanel, a deity of seed sowing (see below). 

« Globus, V. 73, n. 8 and 9, 1898. 

559 



5(30 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

The sixth day, Mukic (we are calling the days according to 
Landa, that is, according to the usage of northwestern Yucatan), 
is called Toh in Kiche, after the god of thunderstorms (see Brinton, 
Calendar of Central America and Mexico, 1893, page 27). 

The sixteenth day, Cauac, was called Ayotl, "tortoise" (Brinton, 
Calendar, page 33) , by the Pipiles, an Aztec tribe, it is true, but living 
among Maya tribes, and among the Mayas the tortoise belongs to the 
mythic animals, which rank in order with the actual gods. 

The seventeenth day, Ahau, is called in the Kiche and Cakchikel 
Hunahpu, the one lord of power, from which the name for the day 
Ahau (Brinton, Calendar, page 22) has obviously been derived. 

As patron of the eighteenth day, Imix, Ek-chuah, a black god, the 
god of cacao planters, travelers, and merchants, is mentioned (see 
Seler, Charakter der aztekischen und der Mayahandschriften, 1888, 
pages 6 and 44 ; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Histoire des nations civili- 
sees du Mexique et de I'Amerique centrale, volume 2 (1888), pages 43 

and 44). 

Lastly, the twentieth day, Akbal, is called by the Tzentals Votan, 
"the heart", a well-known deity, corresponding to the Aztec Te- 
peyollotl (Brinton, Calendar, page 24). 

The above are detached fragments of the system of the Maya day 
gods. But we are now able to see our way more clearly to the recon- 
struction of this system, inasmuch as the second revised edition of 
Die Gottergestalten der Mayahandschriften, by Paul Schellhas, has 
just been issued (Dresden codex, 1897, by Eichard Bertling). In 
this work the distinguished author as far as possible separates the 
individual gods according to the pictures and the written designation. 
Furnished with such aids, we will now proceed to join each one of the 
20 days in their order {g to aa, figure 112) to the respective deities, 
ignoring everything on the right and left of our path which does 
not further this end. 

1. Kan, g. Brinton, Calendar, page 24, also gives Kanan, which 
seems to me to be the more primitive form, for kan means yellow and 
ripe, and kanan (derived from it) is probably the yellow maize kerjiel 
after it has become ripe. The Tzental form for the day, Ghanan, 
corresponds to this, for in the Tzental vocabulary of Pater Lara, ghan 
is the maize ear (see Brinton's Primer, pages 62, 123). The Aztec 
meaning of the day name does not concern us, but among the Nahuas 
of Meztitlan the day is actually called Xilotl, "ear of corn" (see 
Brinton, Calendar, page 25) . 

Hence it is safe to assume that E is the deity belonging to this day, 
in whose picture we plainly see the kan symbol, which is itself 
nothing but a maize kernel, and the sprouting maize plant (see 
Schellhas, Gottergestalten, page 19). 



VORSTEMANN.] 



DAY GODS OF THE MAYAS 561 



2. Chicchan, h. Chic means great, and chan in Tzental, can in 
Cakchikel, means serpent ; the hist syllable of Cukulcan has likewise 
the same significance. The Aztec name for the day, Coatl, also 
signifies serpent. The first part of Chicchan, however, might be cliii 
(" to bite, to sting''). The glyph is a head about whose temples is 
wound a row of small circles like a string of pearls, and according to 
Schellhas, Gottergestalten, page 23, the divinity H, the serpent 
god has the same pretty decoration, which has long been regarded as 
signifying a serpent's skin. 

3. Cinii, /. The meaning of cimi is death ; the Aztec name for the 
day, Miquiztli, and the Kiche-Cakchikel, Camey, likewise have the 
same significance. 

Accordingly there can be no doubt that the divinity A belongs to 
this day, especially as the glyph and the picture resemble each 
other. Whether the bird Moan, as a special representation of A, 
also belongs to this day, I must leave undecided for the present, but 
I will return to the subject later. 

4. Manik, k. AVe know no more about a satisfactory meaning for 
this word than we do for the Tzental Moxic. On the other hand, the 
clay name in Nahuatl, Mazatl, in Zapotec, China, and in Kiche- 
Cakchikel, Queh, denotes in each case deer (Brinton, Calendar, 
jiage 26). 

The glyph signifies a hand in the act of grasping, as in the 
character for the east, where the hand (as it were) draws up the sun 
which lies below it. 

To the deer as well as to this hand, a hunting god would be most 
appropriate, in connection with Avhich we particularly recall Codex 
Troano-Cortesianus, in which there is such great prominence given to 
the deer hunt (with snares, traps, and spears) that an entire section is 
devoted to the subject. But thus far the picture of a god suitable 
for a hunting god has not been found, although there is no lack of 
names of gods of the chase both among the Mayas and among the 
Aztecs. I think that one of the various forms under which F is rep- 
resented might possibly apply here, especially as F is regarded as a 
death god, who perhaps is meant to denote a violent death by sacri- 
fice or at the hands of a hunter. 

5. Lamat, I. Without doubt the Tzental Lanibat is a purer form, 
which Brinton, Calendar, page 27, interprets as derived from lam, 
" to sink in ", '^ to sink beneath ", and from Bat, Avhich means both 
the grain, the seed, and a mattock for working the ground. The 
Aztec designation for this day, Tochtli, " rabbit ", might convey the 
idea of the animal as a symbol of fertility or even as destroyer of the 
crop. The glyph perhaps denotes the furrows or holes for the recep- 
tion of the seed. 

7238— No. 28— 05 36 ii 



562 BUREAU OF AMERICAISr ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

We might, but only perhaps, look here for a grain god, particu- 
larly as in Kiche-Cakchikel among the inhabitants of Ixtlavacan 
in Guatemala, the name of the day, Kanel, designates a deity of seed- 
sowing, to whom sacrifices were performed on this day (Scherzer in 
Boletin de la Sociedad Economica de Guatemala, December 15, 1870). 

The picture of a deity of seed-sowing, however, has not yet been 
discovered in Maya literature, although this action is represented 
several times in the manuscripts. 

6. Muluc, m. This word, to which Mulu, or Molo, in Tzental cor- 
responds, might be derived from muyal, "clouds" (Stoll, Ethnog- 
raphic von Guatemala, page 59) , and this may be connected with mul, 
" to heap up ". Among the Zapotecs the day is called Niza, or Queza, 
" water "; in Kiche-Cakchikel, Toh. Toh, how^ever, signifies the god 
of thunderstorms. To this the Aztec Atl also corresponds and the 
Quiahuitl of the Pipiles, w^ater or rain. 

The glyph is doubtful. It is either the firmament Avith a cloud 
in the center, or a sheet of water with an islet rising out of it. 
With this I place the deity K, blowing from his enormously exagger- 
ated nose, therefore probably denoting the storm god. 

7. Oc, n. The meaning, foot, which this word has among the 
Mayas, is of no use to us. But perhaps it is useful to know that 
according to Stoll, Ethnographic von Guatemala, among two Maya 
tribes, the Tzotzils in Chiapas and the Chaiiabal in the north of 
Guatemala, the wild dog (coyote) is called ohil, from which this word 
Oc may have been derived. Now, this day has the name Tzi with the 
Kiche-Cakchikels, and with the Aztecs, Itzcuintli, both meaning- 
dog; the Zapotec name, Telia, is said, according to Bartolomiius of 
Pisa (Brinton, Calendar, page 28), to mean the same. But the dog 
occurs in mythology as the lightning beast, in which character it fre- 
quently and distinctly occurs in the manuscripts (Schellhas, Gotter- 
gestalten, page 30). 

Tlie glyph occurs in manifold forms, which have in common sev- 
eral zigzag lines (for example, in tlie books of Chilam Balam), and 
which might very well signify lightning. 

8. Chuen, o. In Tzental and Kiche-Cakchikel, this day is called 
Batz, in Nahuatl, Ozomatli, and both mean monkey. It denotes a 
particular species of monkey, Tzental, according to Lara (Brinton. 
Calendar, page 28). Chin, and perhaps Chuen, the meaning of 
which is otherwise unknown, ib connected with it. 

The glyph shows a gaping jaw. which Seler likewise ascribes to a 
monkey, but Schellhns to a serpent. T do not venture to decide the 
matter. 

The figure of the deit}' C belonging here displaj^s, as does also its 
glyph, peculiar lines about the mouth and nose, which suggest a 
monkey's skull and even look like the lateral nasal aperture of the 



FOESTEMANN.J 



DAY GODS OF THE MAYAS 563 



American monkey. This Schellhas lias recognized as a deity of the 
north. We assume, therefore, that the Little Bear is conceived of as 
a monkey which holds fast with its prehensile tail to the pole and 
swings about the latter. 

9. Eb, p. This Maya word is doubtless connected with the Euob 
of the Tzentals and the E. or Ee, of the Kiche-Cakchikels. Like the 
Pija of the Zapotecs and the Malinalli of the Aztecs, it signifies a com- 
bination of points, spines, or thorns, a row of teeth, stiff varieties of 
grass, and the brushes or brooms made of them. 

The glyph of this day is a head, and therefore, no doubt, a deity. 
By the side of the eye and the nose are seen either two lines running 
from the top downward or, carried out more in detail, a row of 
p. any dots like spines around these lines, so that the whole is not 
anlike a broom, as in Landa and often in the manuscripts. 

What deity is denoted here we can not yet positively determine. 
We must expect to find similar marking on its face. In connection 
with day 4 (Manik) we have already alluded to the various kinds 
of lines on the face of the god F. Here, too, the deity we are in search 
of may easily have been confounded with the forms supposed to rep- 
resent the god F. I recall, for instance, the figure drawn on the left 
at the top of page 5 of the Dresden codex, in which two glyphs are 
mi fortunately destroyed. It should also be remembered that among 
the Mayas the cleansing of the dwellings for the feasts was a pre- 
scribed ritual act. We are reminded of the herba verbenaca used by 
the Romans at the lustratio. 

10. Ben, q. The meaning of reed, rush, or straw belongs to Acatl 
in Aztec, to Quii or Laa in Zapotec, and to Ah in Kiche andCak- 
chikel. The significance of Ben in Maya and Tzental is unknown, 
but caghben in Tzental means dried cornstalk (Brinton, Calendar, 
page 30). 

The Aztec glyph, as usual, is very distinct. In the Maya glyph 
there are several straight lines at right angles to each other. The 
most probable meaning of this is a roof made of reeds or rushes, 
and this opinion Doctor Schellhas expressed to me in a letter 
years ago. It may possibly refer to the Kiche god Chahalhuc, the 
god of dwellings (see Stoll, Ethnographic der Indianerstamme von 
Guatemala in the Internationales Archiv fiir Ethnographic, 1889). 
But it is more likely to refer to the Aztec patron of this day, Itztla- 
liuhqui,whoisgivenasthegodof coolness and of drought, also of sin. 
It reminds us that the roof is a protection from sun heat and pouring 
rain, and hides secret sin from view ; for were not adulterers stoned 
before the image of this particular god? I am far, however, from 
wishing that this train of thought should be regarded in the light 
of an assertion. After the explanation above written Professor 
Brinton sent me his interesting work. The Pillars of Ben. but I must 



564 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

here confine myself to referring simply to it, especially as it really 
contains nothing that contradicts my view. 

11. Ix, r. In Aztec this day is called Ocelotl; in Zapotec, Eche; 
in Kiche and Cakchikel, Balam. All these mean the jaguar. The 
Kiche, however, has also the word Hix for it, which is the same in 
Tzental. The Maya word is written Ix,^ix, Hix, and means the sor- 
cerer. But jaguar and sorcerer are actually synonyms, for to the lat- 
ter the power is ascribed of transforming himself into the former, and 
the verb balam in Kiche denotes precisely this transformation (Brin- 
ton. Calendar, page 30). 

The Maya glyph with its two lines and three dots, therefore, 
seems plainly to denote the striped and spotted jaguar skin, which 
possibly is a symbol of the starry heavens ( a more detailed account is 
given in Brinton's Calendar, page 56). Ocelotl among the Nahuas is 
specifically the designation of the Great Bear, as Ozomatli, the eighth 
day, is that of the Little Bear. But the deity belonging to it is actu- 
ally represented among the Mayas by a jaguar (Schellhas, Gotter- 
gestalten, page 31). In the Dresden codex, page 26a, at the end of 
the Ix year, the priest carries away the image of the jaguar. 

12. Men, s. The Tzental and Kiche-Cakchikel word Tziquin 
means bird, the Aztec, Quauhtli, specifically the eagle. Now, the bird 
among Central American peoples is the symbol of knowledge and of 
wisdom, as the owl was among the Athenians. In harmony with such 
a vieAv this day is called Naa by the Zapotecs, as it is called Men by 
the Mayas, both meaning knowledge and understanding, Ah-men, 
" the wise one ". 

The glyph is a head. Below the eyes are various markings which 
might very well mean bird's feathers. Doctor Seler has been at 
various times reminded of the Aztec goddess, Tonantzin, the great 
earth mother who is adorned with eagle's feathers. 

Among the mythical birds of the Mayas the most important is the 
Moan (Schellhas, Gottergestalten, page 29), which occurs often in 
their glyphs, and which denotes a month of the year. In Globus, 
volume 65, number 15 (1894), I have considered whether Moan is 
the sign of the Pleiades. This suggestion may be of use in connection 
with this day, but I do not ascribe much importance to the fact that 
the consonants agree in Moan and Men. 

13. Cib, t. The Aztec Cozcaquauhtli means the vulture, literally 
the king vulture, named after its feather ornament. The Tecolotl of 
the Pipiles means the owl. The Zapotec Loo, or Guil-loo, seems also 
to denote a bird, for ba-loo denotes crow or raven. The meaning 
of the Maya word Cib and of the Tzental Chabin is very uncertain 
(Brinton, Calendar, page 31) ; but that the Mayas actually regarded 
the vidture as the symbol of the deity of this day is confirmed below 
(see Schellhas, Gottergestalten, page 31). 



fObstemann.] day gods OF THE MAYAS 565 

The glyph shows a line winding from below upward, on the upper 
end of which there is a small round object. I do not consider it 
impossible that this may indicate' a bird mounting into the air. 

14. Caban, u. I connect this word with cab, to which Perez in his 
lexicon gives the meaning of earth, world, soil. At the first glance the 
Aztec Ollin does not seem to correspond to it at all, because the idea of 
movement attaches to Ollin and particularly the movement of the sun; 
but when we find that the Meztitlan expression, Nahui Olli means the 
four movements given for this day in Brinton's Calendar, page 32, 
and read " directions " rather than '' movements ", the riddle is solved, 
for it means the four cardinal points surrounding the world. I must 
leave it to the future to reconcile this meaning with the Tzental Chic, 
the Kiche-Cakchikel Noh, and the Zapotec Xoo, to which the meaning 
of great, firm, powerful is ascribed. Can these be the designations 
for the gods of the four cardinal points, the Bacabs ? 

The form of the Aztec glyph accords with my supposition. 
Around a central design in which, without too much imagination, one 
can see a suggestion of the earth, the ocean, and the surrounding 
atmosphere, figures in the form of sails of a windmill extend in 
four directions. We are here strongW reminded of the represen- 
tation in Codex Cortesianus, pages 41 to 42, which Leon de Rosny not 
inappropriately has called a tableau des Bacabs; that is, of the four 
deities of the cardinal points. It is a tonalamatl in which, from a 
central inclosure, half of it rectangular and half circular, four figures 
representing the separate days project in as many directions. 

The Maya glyph unquestionably denotes the ground. I here (juote 
the words of Schellhas (Die Mayahandschrift der Koniglichen Bib- 
liothek zu Dresden, 188G, page 21) : 

The sign is tlie symbol of land, the ground, the earth, which is called cab 
in Maya. Numerous pictures of persons and objects, which sit, lie, and stand 
on this sign, and especially its frequent occurrence as ground and foundation 
in the representations, confirms the signification of the word. Thus the sign 
cab occurs especially in the Troano codex, frequently also the sign Kan, as 
a symbolic glyph of the fruitful earth from which maize stalks are sprouting 
(Troano codex, page 33). In another passage (Troano codex, page 32) there 
are vines, twining about a pole, on the sign Caban. 

Yet, notwithstanding all those assured points, it is difficult to inter- 
pret the form of the Maya glyph- It includes the same spiral line 
terminating in a small round object at the top which we saw in the 
preceding day Cib and interpreted as a soaring bird. In addition, 
it contains a second small object, from which a straight dotted line 
runs downward. Can this be an indication of two directions, up and 
down? This explanation does not altogether satisfy me. We shall 
therefore be forced to regard the four Bacabs as the gods of this day. 

15. Ezanab, v. The Aztec Tecpatl is flint, such as is used for 



566 BUREAU OF AMERTCAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

knives and lanee keads. To this corresponds the Tzental Chinax, an 
old form for the usual zninax, '' knife ". The Cakchikel Tihax is 
said to mean biting, scratching, while in the Zapotec Gopaa Brinton 
(Calendar, page 32) surmises a variant of guipa, " sharp point, edge " 
(gueza-guipa, " flint knife "). The Maya word Ezanab, Brinton, in 
the same work, connects with eclz, " to stab, to sharpen ", and nab, 
something stained, especially with blood. In fact the lance heads 
repeatedly appear bloodstained in the manuscripts. 

The glyph consists of two intersecting zigzag lines, which are 
also repeated on the lance heads. These lines reproduce very well 
the jagged slanting lines of a flint knife (Schellhas, Mayahandschrift, 
page 22). 

It is difficult to find an appropriate deity for this sign. For the 
present I am inclined to consider in connection with it one of the 
serpent deities (Schellhas, H and I), so difficult to distinguish, one of 
which belongs to the second day. The wound made by stabbing or 
cutting could be conceived of as a serpent's bite. All this is very un- 
certain, but I hope later to bring forward more arguments in support 
of my opinion. 

16. Cauac, w. In this sign I see the rainy season, the time of the 
greatest heat and most frequent thunderstorms. The Maya word 
is exactly equivalent to the Tzental Cahogh (chaoc), the Pokonchi 
and Pokoman Cahoc (cohoc), and the Chontal Chauoc, which all 
mean thunderstorm. Even the remote Huastec has the same word 
in its tzoc. The Zapotec Ape (api), properly dark cloud; in the 
compounds laari-api-niza and ri-api-laha, signifies lightning (Brin- 
ton, Calendar, page 33). In the Aztec the name of this day is Quia- 
huitl, equivalent to rain. 

The glyph, which distinctly includes a mass of clouds, corre- 
sponds very well to the above. 

The language of the remote Aztec Pipiles shows us how to find the 
god belonging to the day. In this language the day is called Aj^otl, 
" the tortoise ", which is a symbol of the thunderstorm deity, as Schell- 
has has already stated in the Zeitschrift fiir Ethnologic, 1892, page 
120, and also in his latest work, page 31. I myself have principally 
demonstrated in my third treatise, " Zur Entzifferung ", that the tor- 
toise signifies the summer solstice, the climax of the season of rain 
and thunderstorms. Add to this that among the Mayas cooc, or 
caoc, denotes the lightning, and coc the tortoise, and it seems prob- 
able that the resemblance of the word m"ay have influenced the selec- 
tion of the symbol. Indeed, it may be thought that the Yucatec rain 
god Chac is the same word as cauac, caoc, or cahogh. Even to-day 
chaac (chac) is used in the sense of rain. 

17. Ahau, X. Literally " lord of the necklace ". as the ornament 
marking a distinguished rank. From this the name of the day 



iruKSTEMANN.] DAY GODS OF THE MAYAS 



567 



Aghiial, '^ lordship ", is derived in the Tzental. In the Kiche-Cak- 
chikel it is called outright by the name of the god Hun-ahpu, '' the 
one lord of power ", in Zapotec Lao, or Loo, '' the eye '', which ineans 
the eye of the day, the sun, as the Mayas have the god name Kin-ich- 
ahau, "lord of the eye of the day''. And the Aztec Xochitl, 
" flower ", is also explained by the xochitonal of the dialect of Mez- 
titlan, " the flower of the day, the sun " (Brinton, Calendar, page 34) . 
The glyph displays a face which differs from the other heads, 
inasmuch as it is seen from in front, and its eye forms the symbol of 
the moon, while an akbal (night) is placed on the forehead. Th(^ 
god belonging here is doubtless the old god D, to whose glyph 
the sign Ahau is usually added as a determinative. The close rela- 
tion of this god to the sun is probably the reason why there no longer 
seems to be a vacant place for the sun god proper, which in all prob- 
ability he originally occupied, as we shall see directly. The question 
now arises. Is the "close relation of god D to the moon among the 
Mayas an innovation or is it the most ancient relation? The moon 
is the nearer, the sun the more remote, lord of time and of the whole 
chronology. 

18. Imix, y. In the course of time the meaning of Imix has under- 
gone two changes which have rendered the interpretation very diffi 
cult. It may be assumed that among the Mayas, mex, or meex, means 
the beard, which doubtless suggests primarily the sun's beard (u mex 
kin), that is, the sun's rays (Brinton, Calendar, page 23). This is 
very appropriate to the day, which was placed at the head of the day 
series by the Aztecs and by various Maya races. Mex, however, is 
also the name of the cuttlefish, from whose head extend eight or ten 
ray like arms (un pescado que tiene muchos brazos) , and it may be the 
oldest hieroglyphic designation of the day. 

But the little-known cuttlefish, when the original connection was 
forgotten, was replaced by another aquatic creature. Among the 
Zapotecs the day was called Chiylla, " water lizard ". In the Nahuatl 
it was Cipactli, which is applied to an undefined aquatic creature. 
The Aztec glyph is an alligator. Secondarily, the process which Brin- 
ton calls ikonomatic began at this point. Instead of Mex, the Mayas 
used Imix as the designation of this day ; the Tzentals used Imox, or 
Mox. The Kiches and Cakchikels have Imox, or Moxin, which in 
their language, according to Ximenes, also denotes the swordfish, 
and this facilitates the transition of the meaning. Im signifies udder 
or the female breast, while ix is a frequent prefix or suffix, denot- 
ing the feminine gender. Here it should be observed that milk is 
denoted by cab-in, " honey of the breast ''. Then, in this connection, 
we are reminded that the intoxicating pulque was obtained from 
honey, and that numerous pulque gods occur among the Aztecs and 
Mayas. The gathering of honey was a prominent industry, as is 



568 BUEEAU OF AMERTCAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

shown by the large section devoted to it in Codex Troano-Cortesianus. 
The frequent combination of the signs kan and imix (with water and 
pipes as affixes) seems to signify food and drink, a meal, a banquet. 
They occur almost exclusively in the tonalamatl, and not in the 
astronomic representations. The Maj^a glyph unquestionably denotes 
a female breast. 

All this seems, therefore, to point to a deity of the honey industry 
or of pulque. Schellhas has not yet discovered such a god, but I hope 
to find one farther on. 

I must call attention to the fact that, first by Brasseur de Bour- 
bourg, then by Seier and others, a black god, Ek-chuah, is mentioned 
as patron of the day Imix, as protector of Cacao planters, travelers, 
and merchants. Yet I avoid connecting this god bj^ a factitious train 
of thought with the desired pulque god, and leave the question open 
for the future. 

19. Ik, z. The Maya word ik is the same as the igh of the Tzen- 
tals and the ik of the Kiches and Cakchikels, and corresponds in mean- 
ing also to the Aztec Ehecatl. Owing to this agreement it is unnec- 
essary for my purpose to examine the various Zapotec expressions for 
this day. But the common meaning is that of wind, breath, air (in 
the pictorial representations also that of fire, as a particular kind of 
air) , then, figuratively, that of life and spirit. 

The glyph of the day has various forms. The most primitive 
appears to me to be the rectilinear one, as it occurs particularly in 
the inscriptions, and also in the eye included in ^h^ gl^jph of the god. 
The day series of the tonalamatl readily suggest a burning torch or 
candle, but this rectilinear shape reminds one of the tree of life or of 
the sacrificial tree. In addition to this other forms occur, which are 
entirely unintelligible to me (see, for example, Brinton, Essays of an 
Americanist, page 271). 

The deity of the day is decidedly god B, Cukulcan. or Quetzalcoatl, 
the bird-serpent, this most universal and most diversely busy god of 
the Mayas, especially of the Tzentals. In place of the eye this glyph 
displays the rectilinear figure of ik, which alone is conclusive. The 
picture of the god itself may, by the long nose, have reference to 
breath, just as god K, by his ornamental nose, denotes the blast of the 
storm. 

20. Akbal, aa. In Kiche-Cakchikel this daj^ is called by the same 
name. It means darkness, night, like the Zapotec Guela. In Nahuatl 
we have Calli, " the house ", probably in the sense of an abode for 
the night and on account of the darkness prevailing within it. In 
Tzental the day is called Votan, after the demigod, the so-called 
" heart of the nation ■', who built a dark house in Tlazolayan for the 
sacred objects of his cult. He answers to the Aztec Tepeyollotl 



FORSTEMANN.] 



DAY GODS OP THE MAYAS 569 



(Seler in the Compte rendu des Berliner Kongresses, pages 561 to 
569). 

The Aztec glyph of the day distinctly designates a liouse, Avlnle 
that of the Mayas is still unintelligible to me. Seler (Berliner Kon- 
gress, page 562) sees in this a representation of the mountain cavern, 
the jaws of the earth. This deity we shall probably find in the black 
god whom Schellhas has denoted by L. 

I am unable to discover a methodic arrangement in the significance 
of the 20 days or in the gods belonging to them. When Brinton in 
his calendar undertakes to construct an organic order of the day 
names I am not able to follow^ him. 

It is plain that in this grouping of the gods with the days, along 
with much that is certain, there is also much that is doubtful, but I 
believe that I am in a position to find confirmation of my opinions in 
another direction. My hope rests, first of all, on the unique tonala- 
matl of the Dresden codex, pages 4a to 10a, which in the customary 
manner treats the first 52 days more in detail, but specifically divides 
them into 20 different parts, which occurs in no other tonalamatl. 
One is therefore involuntarily led to ask whether a relation may not 
be discovered between these small time periods and the 20 days. At 
first glance the answer to this question is in the negative. The tona- 
lamatl has as its zero point the day Imix, y; but if, proceeding from 
this point, Ave attempt to prove the divisions of time recorded in the 
manuscript and the representations concluding them, then the day 
found in no case corresponds with the pictures and their glyphs. 

It is quite a different matter if we assume that the zero point was 
mistakenly placed at Imix, ?/, by the scribe, instead of five days 
earlier at Cib, t, where it should be. He seems to have placed the 
tonalamatl of a certain year on the same days of the next year, with- 
out reflecting that they ought to be moved forward five .days. This 
supposition seems to me to become a certainty through the following 
statement. 

If we proceed from the day 13 (Cib, t) the intervals of one, two, 

three, or four days will give at the close the following days of the 20 

sections : 

1 15 Ezanab 11 2 Chicchan 

2 19 Ik 12 6Muluc 

3 3 Cimi 13 8 Chuen 

4 4Manik 14 Ills 

5 8 Chuen 15 13 Cib 

6-.-:-. 10 Ben 16 16 Cauac 

7 12 Men 17 18 Imix 

8 16 Catiac 18 1 Kan 

9 ..18Imix 19.._--- 3Cimi 

10 20 Akbal 20-__--. 5 Lamat 

Thus it appears that there was no attempt made to have all the 20 
days represented, for the days 3, 8, 16, and 18 occur a second time 



570 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bdll. 28 

after 20 or 40 days, while, on the other hand, the days 7, 9, 14, and 17 
are missing. Now let us see how the groups consisting each of a 
picture and six glyphs (of which the first two are always the same) 
agree with the days found by calculation. 

1. Ezanab, v. We find here an actual serpent god (H or I) hold- 
ing a serpent in its hand, and in the third and fourth glyphs, with 
slight variations, the symbols of the other serpent god belonging to 
the day Chicchan, h. The deity as an ear ornament distinctly wears 
the sign ezanab. Here everything corresponds. 

2. Ik, z. This is the actual god B. His sign is also in the fourth 
glyph. If the object held in his hand is intended for a bird, it would 
be a symbol, of wind. This also agrees. 

3. Cimi, i. We expect to find the god A here, but we find another, 
probably N. Unfortunately^ the destruction of the glyph has ren- 
dered a critical examination difficult. We can not, therefore, prove 
an agreement. 

4. Manik, k. Here we plainly have one of the forms of god F, but 
the diificulty of arriving at a decision in reference to this god, as well 
as the obliteration of the glyphs, prevents us from definitely placing 
this group among those which show a satisfactory agreement. 

5. Chuen, o. The picture of god C, as well as his glyph, accords 
admirably with my view. 

6. Ben, q. Here, it is true, one of the common Ben-Ik signs is 
found among the glyphs, but below it is again the deity B. We must 
here defer a final decision. 

7. Men, s. This is a sign which belongs to the sought-for Moan, 
but the picture is probably another form of god F, with the nose peg 
of the sun god G. It is true the Moan is connected with the position 
of the sun, but that is not sufficient to constitute a positive agreement 
here. 

8. Cauac, w. The sought-for tortoise does not occur here, unless we 
are inclined to consider the object which the god holds in his hand as 
such. Among the glyphs the two central ones which belong to the 
serpent god H are noticeable, and they agree tolerably well with the 
rainy season and thunderstorms. A proof of positive correspondence, 
however, does not appear. 

9. Imix, y. The deit}' is feminine, as is appropriate to this day. 
This is shown by the tresses displayed before the third and fifth 
glyphs. But she appears to be one of the forms of god F, which is 
indicated by the death sign on her cheek. I do not venture to explain 
what she holds in her hand or the serpent on her head. The matter, 
therefore, remains undecided. 

10. Akbal, aa. The black god L, as well as the traces still left of 
the third glyph, correspond to the idea of darkness conjectured here. 



FORSTEMANN.] DAY GODS OF THE MAYAS 571 

And since Akbal is one of the days with which the months in the 
Kan vear begin, the sixth glyph, ahaii, also agrees. 

Ih Chicchan, h. The dog with his glyphs certainly does not agree 
with this, since we expect a serpent god here. Yet it is curious that 
the last two glyphs are the same, only in reversed order, as the last 
two in group 1^ which certainly belongs to a serpent god. The ques- 
tion remains undecided. 

12. Muluc, m. Here the divinity K corresponds admirably in the 
picture and the two central glyphs. The fifth glyph shows the day 
as one of the regents of the year. 

13. Chuen, o. Here there is no agreement, since the picture repre- 
sents god A, and the glyphs are his. 

14. Ix, r. Nothing can better correspond to this day than the pic- 
ture of the jaguar and his glyph occupying the third place. 

15. Cib, t. Here, too, as in the preceding group, the picture and 
third glyph agree, both denoting the vulture. The fifth, on the other 
hand, represents the lightning dog, in relation to which it is curiously 
fitting that on page 13c vulture and dog are combined in one group. 

These two groups, 14 and 15, separated by two days, like jaguar 
and vulture in the Aztec calendar, seem to me by themselves quite a 
convincing proof of the connection of this tonalamatl wdth the days. 
They formed the basis of my hypothesis. 

16. Cauac, w. Here we find nothing that we expected, but in its 
stead the god D and the ahau sign, almost always accompanying him, 
in the fourth place, the third glyph being unfortunately destroyed. 
We are, therefore, led to assume, not with certainty, but wath great 
probability, that an error of one day has been made here by the 
writer. It should be the day 17 (Ahau), for otherwise the chief of 
all the gods w^ould be missing. The number of days w^anting in these 
20 groups and of those appearing twice is, therefore, reduced to three 
(7, 9, and 14 and 3, 8, and 18) . 

17. Imix, y. Corresponding to the day, the picture shows a female 
deity who in two things agrees very well with what was remarked 
above, in the bee sitting on her head and in the bandaged eyes, which 
I believe, as well as the uncertain position of the hands (or do I see 
too much here?), indicate intoxication from drinking pulque. 

18. Kan, g. The sought-for grain goddess E, with her glyph, is 
actually found here. 

19. Cimi, i. This is not the expected deity A, but the closely 
related figure of the Moan, having the death symbol on his head, and 
his glyphs, thus entirely suitable to the day. 

20. Lamat, I. Nothing corresponds to this day, but god A occurs 
with his glyph, perhaps not through error, but intentionally. The 
fourth glyph is very remarkable. In it I am very much inclined to 
see a time period, 6 lunar months and 6 days, that is, 6X28+6, or a 



572 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

s]3ace of 174 days; yet I hesitate to express the conjecture which I 
entertain relative to this subject, for it does not pertain to my present 
theme. 

Among the twenty groups, therefore, ten (1, 2. 5, 10, 12, 14, 15, 17, 
18, 19) agree very well wath my view, corroborating it in part, while 
an eleventh (16) will as well if we accept a slight conjecture. 

After this result the question naturally arises whether in the 
remaining tonalamatls of the manuscripts the pictures and glyphs 
correspond to the intervals of the days. Such cases are readily 
found: In the Dresden codex, page 15c, D appears 14 days after A (3 
to 17) ; page 13b, C, 7 days after E (1 to 8) ; page 16b, A, 4 days 
after B (19 to 3). But still more cases must be found to form a con- 
clusive proof, as isolated cases can readily be ascribed to mere acci- 
dent. This is a question upon which I will not touch at j)resent. 



THE TEMPLE OF INSCRIPTIONS AT 
PALENQUE 



E. FORSTElVIANlSr 



THE TEMPLE OF INSCRIPTIONS AT 
PALENQUE" 



By E. Forstemann 



We have perforce confined our efforts from the beginning of Maya 
research chiefly to the manuscripts, in the interpretation of which 
considerable progress has already been made. The time has now come 
to take the first steps toward a decipherment of the Maya inscriptions. 
Available copies of the inscriptions were until recently too inaccurate 
to offer an incentive to thorough study. My treatise, Die Kreuzin- 
schrift von Palenque, published in Globus, volume 72, pages 45 to 41), 
might therefore be called premature, since my only guide, at least, 
for the left side of the inscription, was the drawing by Catherwood 
in Stephens's book of travels. This drawing is admirably executed, 
it is true, but it is inadequate for accurate research. I use the word 
'^ premature ", however, only in reference to a few details upon which 
fuller light has now been shed ; I certainly comprehended correctly 
the main point, namely, the fact that the inscriptions consist essen- 
tially of a framework of dates and the intervening periods. 

Considerable progress has recently been made in the critical exami- 
nation of the inscriptions, since we now have facsimiles of them which 
are as accurate as the condition of the originals permits. In par- 
ticular the great Biologia Centrali-Americana, by Godman and Sal- 
vin, has materially assisted us in this with the section edited by 
Maudslay under the title Archeology, and each new number of this 
work as it appears is an additional station on the road of science. 

Of the plates to this work, the free use of which has been made 
possible to me by the courteous permission of Mr Maudslay himself, 
I wish to call attention to the three designated as plates lx to Lxn. 
They are from the Temple of Inscriptions at Palenque. Plates lx and 
Lxii are of the same dimensions, each having 20 vertical columns 
and 12 horizontal rows, while plate lxi has only 14 vertical columns 
and 10 horizontal rows. Hence there are on these plates 240+140-}- 
240=620 glyphs, of which, however, those in the first 9 columns of 
plate LX are mostly destroyed. There is no doubt that plate lx is 

» Aus dem Inschriftentempel von Palenque, Globus, v. 75, n. 5. 1899. 

575 



576 ■ BUREAU OF AMERICAlSr ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

actually to be considered the first of the three, because its initial 
glyphs correspond with those at the beginning of other inscriptions, 
while plates lxi and lxii are without such characters. I shall denote 
the columns of plates lx and lxii by the letters A to U, of plate lxi 
by A to O,- allowing H, I, and K to succeed one the other in the 
original way (without a J), and the horizontal rows I shall naturally 
denote by numbers. 

It can furthermore be proved that plate lxi is in fact the continua- 
tion of plate LX. 

The day 9X144,000+9XT,200=-1,360,800 is given on plate lx at 
P and Q 6; on the same plate U 2, on the other hand, 10x7,200 is 
given; on plate lxi A 3 is llX'<'i200, and on the same plate G 2 is 
12X7,200; that is, they occur in regular periods of 20 years, just as 
the centuries are sometimes found noted on the margin of our his- 
torical tables. Evidently 9X144,000 is mentally to be added to each 
of the last three numbers. Hence they signify the four days 
1,360,800, 1,368,000, 1,375,200, and 1,382,400; these, however, denote 
the calendar dates III 17, 3, 4 (year 7 Cauac), I 17; 8, 17 (year 13 
Ix), XII 17; 8, 12 (year 7 Ix) and X 17; 8, 7 (year 1 Ix). As a 
matter of fact the first date occurs in plate lx, Q 2 P 3, the third in 
plate LXI, A B 2, the fourth, although somewhat irregularly written, 
in plate lxi, G H 1 ; and the second, in plate lx, T U 1, has been 
destroyed. These dates, judging by the other inscriptions, obviously 
refer to the present. Let us hope that we shall soon be able to trans- 
late them into our chronology. According to all appearances they 
are in the fifteenth century. 

Plate LXI suggests another observation which may be of impor- 
tance. We find there in not fewer than 6 places a glyph which is 
not unlike a fist (see 1, plate xliv). With this there are always from 
4 to 12 otlier signs, which, from their positions, as well as from their 
repetition, suggest the idea that we have to deal here with 6 groups of 
glyphs closely allied in meaning. The 6 groups are as follow : 

I C 5 to C 7, five glyphs. 

II C 8 to E 1, seven glyphs. 

Ill F 1 to F 6, eleven glyphs. 

IV I 4 to II , thirteen glyphs. 

V L3toL9, thirteen glyphs. 

VI M 9 to O 5, thirteen glyphs. 

The total number of glyphs is, therefore, 62, but this number, 
owing to many repetitions, is reduced to about 29 different characters. 
As all the glyphs of the inscriptions are subject to manifold varia- 
tions, it is not always easy to distinguish between them. It is possible 
that there are 28 or 30. I give here a transcription of these characters 
in the following order: First, those (1 to 3, plate xliv) which occur 6 
times in these groups; then, those (4 to 9) occurring 3 times; then, 



FORSTKMANN] TEMPLE OF IISrSCRIPTIONS AT PALENQUE 577 

those (10 to 15) occurring twice, and, finally, those which occur but 
once (16 to 29). 

These 29 signs are now divided in the following manner among the 
6 groups : 





I 




II 


III 


IV 


V 




VI 


1_ 


.0 5 


1_ 


-0 8 


1--F 1 


1..I4 


1..L 3 


1. 


.M 9 


10_ 


.D5 


11_ 


.D8 


13--E2 


19--K4 


4_.M3 


4. 


-LIO 


3_ 


-0 6 


16. 


-0 9 


3--F3 


20--I5 


2-.L4 


2. 


.MIO 





_D6 


3- 


.D9 


2.-E3 


2.-K5 


5..M4 


5. 


.Nl 


13. 


.07 


3_ 


-OlO 


13. -F 3 


5. -I 6 


6..L5 


26. 


.0 1 






4- 


-DIO 


17.-E4 


6--K6 


7..M5 


t - 


.N2 






9. 


.El 


6-.F4 


7--I7 


23. .L 6 


27. 


.0 2 










18. -E 5 


31. .K7 


24.. M 6 


8- 


-N3 










14.. F 5 


8. .18 


8-.L7 


12. 


-0 3 










15._E6 


10. .K 8 


11. .M7 


3. 


-]sr4 










9--F6 


3. .19 
15.. K 9 

22. .110 


3-.L8 

25. .M 8 
9..L9 


28. 
29. 
14. 


.0 4 

-N5 
.0 5 



The groups II and III, likewise V and VI, join one another; there 
is a single glyph between I and II, and five between IV and V. On 
the other hand, betAveen III and IV. before the beginning of the three 
larger groups, there is a space filled with entirely different characters, 
which occupy a part of columns E and F, the whole of columns G and 
H, and the first three rows of I and K. 

We know the meaning of but one of these glyphs ; this one occurs 
three times and is numbered 5 (ahau, " lord "). The others, however, 
occur, almost all, in other inscriptions of Palenque, as the moon (2), 
fist (1), the recumbent person (9), the inverted net or cobweb (3), the 
chessboard (29), and also several of the profile heads; but we know 
nothing of their import. Lastly, the character 6, occurring fre- 
quently elsewhere, is to be mentioned. I am inclined to consider it 
the Aztec itzcoatl (" arrow serpent ") . In these six groups of glyphs, 
none of the Avell-known characters, with the exception of ahau, are to 
be found, neither the glyphs of the days, months, and longer time 
periods, nor those of the constellations and the cardinal points, nor 
even the glyphs of the gods. Furthermore, all numbers are omitted 
here, which is an especially striking fact. 

From all this it seems probable that we have to do here with cer- 
tain sacred formulas, most likely formulas of prayer. It would give 
me great pleasure if this remark of mine should pave the way for on-^ 
of my fellow students to some new discovery. 

Beginnings of such groups appear even on plate lx. Although 
about a third of the characters occurring there are destroyed, glyph 
1, plate XLiv, appears no less than eight times. To this, in six cases, 
are joined several of the glyphs given above and in addition the one 
given here (30). 



7238— No. 28—05- 



578 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

This, however, is no other than the glyph of god C, the representa- 
tive of the north and the night. 

The six small groups on this plate are as follow : 

A7toB9: 1,13, (?), 30, 16, 9, 29. 

F 9 to E 11: 16, 9,29, 1. 

K 6 to 7 : 1, 4, 30. 

B 4 Q 4 : 1, 30. 

R 7 to 8 : 1, 13, 30. 

T 10 to 11: 1, 13, 30. 

The last two identical groups have still further reference to one 
another inasmuch as each is directly preceded by three glyphs which 
correspond to one another; S 1, S 2, and S 3, namely, are like U 6, 
U T, and U 8, though the intervening characters m columns K and i 
are very different in both places. 

On plate lxii the formation of such groups or formulas would be 
hardly appropriate, for this plate is almost wholly filled with dates 
and periods, as 1 have shown to be the case in the familiar Cross 
inscription. A few remarks relative to the dates and periods may be 

in place here. . ■ j- J.^ 

We are first struck by the fact that the beginning of the page con- 
tains four dates without a statement of the periods intervening: 

B8A9: X17; 8, 7 (1 Ix). 
ClDl: VIII 17; 8, 2 (8 Ix). 
7 D 7 : VII 17 ; 18, 2 (10 Kan) . 
C 11 D 11: X 17; 13, 7 (9 Muluc). 

The day 17, therefore, occurs four times. This is the most impor- 
tant and most frequently employed of all the days, but it occupies a 
varying position in the weeks and years. The interval from the firs 
to the^second is computed at 7,200, from the second to the third at- 
740, from the third to the fourth at 9,220 days. The number (,200 
represents, of course, the familiar period of 20X360, but what are 
the other two intervals? ^, ■ ^ 

A few of the dates on this plate correspond to the intervening 

period : 

Q 5 • X 17 ; there is no 8, 7 (1 Ix) with this. 

p 5 Q 5: 0+6x20+3X360=1,206=4X2604-166=3X365+111. 

P 7: VII 3; 19, 12 (4 Muluc). 

In fiiet. X 17 to VIT 3=166; 8. 7 to 19, 12=111. 

Again, 

R G S 6: VII, 14 ; 15, 1 (7 Kan). 

R 7 to R 8: 1+6X20+7X360+2X7.200=17,041 = 65X260+141=46X 

365+251. 
R 11 S 11: V 15; 6. 14 (1 Ix). _^ ^_ 

R 6 should be read VIII rather than VII. Then. VIII 14 to ^ 15=101 

and 15, 1 to 6, 14=251. 



FORSTBMANN] TEMPLE OF INSCKIPTIONS AT PALENQUE 579 

Thirdly and lastly, 

R 11: V 15; 6, 14 (1 Ix). 

S 11 R 12: 2+11x20+9X360=3,462=13x260+82:^10X365—188. 

T 1: IX 17; 18, 4 (11 Kan). 

But V 15 to IX 17=82 and 6, 14 to 18, 4=— 188. 

I now come to a mysterious circnmstance. It is this, that though 
the ]3eriod corresponds to the time between the two neighboring dates, 
it only does so when the process is reversed and the computation is 
made from the second to the first : 

C 11 D 11 : X 17; 13, 7 (9 Muluc). 

E 1 F 1: 9X20+12x360=4,500=17X260+80=12X365+120. 

E 3 F 3: VIII 17; 13, 1 (10 Muluc). 

But VIII 17 to X 17=80 ; 13, 1 to 13, 7=120. 

I would also note that the 9 in E 1 is only a conjecture with me; 
the original being plainly 8. 
SimilarW, 

E 6 F 6: V 5; 1, 8 (9 Muluc). 

E 7 F 7: 8+4x20+2x360=808=3x260+28=2x365+78. 

E 8 F 8 : III 17 ; 3, 4 (7 Cauac). 

But actually. III 17 to V 5=28 ; 3, 4 to 1, 8=78. 

Thirdly and lastly, 

P 7: VII 3; 19. 12 (4 Muluc). 

Q 7 to 8: 9X144.000+7X7,200+11X360+3X20=1,350,420=5,193X260 

+240=3,699x365+285. 
F 10 Q 10 : I 3 ; 19, 16 (9 Muluc). 
And, in fact, I 3 to VII 3=240 ; 19, 16 to 19, 12=285. 

There seems also to be backward computation in the case of U 5 
to U 8, but the characters of U 8 have certainlj^ undergone a change 
which as yet is inexplicable. 

Since this backward computation occurs several times, it can not be 
based upon a confusion of the two dates or upon a mere accident. 
Furthermore, I think it also occurs in columns Q and R, of the 
Temple of the Sun at Palenque (Maudslay, plate i.xxxix). One 
hardly would think that the Maya priests tried in this way to obscure 
the meaning of the inscriptions. 

In two cases the period between the two dates is evidently omitted 
because the interval between the dates is the same in the tonalamatl 
and in the year : 

G 9 PI 9 : X 17 ; 1.3, 7 (9 Muluc). 
H 10: V 5; 1, 8 (9 Muluc). 

For the interval X IT to V 5 and 13, 7 to 1, 8 is in each case only 
8 days : 

P 10 Q 10 : I 3 ; 19, 16 (9 Muluc). 
SI: VII 3; 14, 10 (10 Ix). 



580 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

Here I 3 to VII 3 as well as 19, 16 to 14, 10 is equalto 240 days. 
For unknown reasons the period is not stated in other places, as 
between E 3 and F 6, between E 8 and G 2, between H 10 and H 11, 
between T 1 and T 3. It is impossible to obtain a clear understanding 
of the matter. There must be a corruption of the text in H 1 to G 7 
and in T 3 to U 4 which it is quite impossible to fathom. 

It is very remarkable that the first date is omitted before Q 3 and 
also before R 3. The day VIII 17, occurring in both cases, appears to 
have different positions in the year. This day, which divides a regu- 
lar tonalamatl, beginning with IV 17, in the ratio of 8: 5 (160: 100), 
is of special significance in the last part of the Dresden codex. The 
ratio 8 : 5 is also that of the apparent Venus year to the solar year 
(584:365). 

Plate Lxii suggests still another remark. The plate contanis, at 
the most, 30 regular calendar dates, each consisting of 2 glyphs and 2 
numbers. Now, since there are in all 18,980 (52X365) different dates 
of this kind, it would be very improbable that one of these dates 
should be repeated if we were dealing with a historical succession of 
events. Nevertheless we find here : 

X 17 : 8, 7 in B 8, A 9, and Q 5. 

X 17 : 13, 7 in C D 11 and G H 9. 

V 5 : 1, 8 in E F 6 and H 6 G 7, also in H 10. 

The frequent use of the day 17 (B 8, C 1, C 7, C 11, E 3, E 8, G 9, 
P 4, Q 5, T 1, U 8) , which occurs almost as often as all the remaining 
19 days together, is in itself an argument against a historic and 
in favor of a hieratic significance of this plate, while plates lx and 
Lxi indicate rather that the significance is of a historic nature. The 
prayer formulas, if they be such, mark the transition. 

Quite different from the inscriptions is the well-known Cross 
inscription of Palenque (Maudslay, pages 73 to 76). The latter 
appears to be a consecutive chronologic table which treats of mythic 
ages as far as F 12 and thenceforward of historic time. Two other 
inscriptions, likewise from- Palenque, one from the Temple of the Sun 
(Maudslay, pages 81 to 82), and one from the Temple of the Foliated 
Cross (Maudslay, pages 88 to 89), are very closely related to one 
another, particularly s;o in their arrangement as a whole, then in the 
striking agreement of the so-called initial series, and also in their 
alternation of dates and periods: but I will venture no further 
remarks. 

Very different from all these inscriptions are the stelfe and altars 
of Copan, which belong to about the same period as the monuments 
of Palenque, as those appear to refer in every instance to a single 
event. 



THREE INSCRIPTIONS OF PALENQUE 



E. FORSTEIVIANN 



581 



THREE INSCRIPTIONS OF PALENQUE 



By E. Forstemann 



If we turn to the southeast from the principal edifice, the so- 
called palace, on the long famous site of the ruins of Palenque, we 
find at a distance of about 100 meters three buildings which approxi- 
mately form the corners of an equilateral triangle whose sides are 
about 50 meters in length. Their position can be best understood 
from the sketch map of Holmes, xVrchieological Studies among the 
Ancient Cities of Mexico, part % page 208, plate xxiv, Chicago, 1897 ; 
also in Maudslay, volume 4, plate i. 

The three buildings are as follow : 

I. The Temple of the Cross, the inscription of which I have dis- 
cussed in Globus, volume 72, number 3, pages 45 to 49. 

II. The Temple of the Cross No. 2 (according to Holmes) or of 
the Foliated Cross (according to Maudslay). 

III. The Temple of the Sun. 

Each of these three buildings contains a large inscription of an en- 
tirely different character from the three tablets in the Temple of 
Inscriptions southwest of the palace, of which I have recently treated. 

The inscriptions of these three temples, on the other hand, are 
closely related, and to show this will be the theme of the present arti- 
cle. I shall designate them by the numerals I, IT, and III, as the 
temples themselves have been designated. Maudslay also says, vol- 
ume 4, page 30, in regard to Temple II : " The plan and arrangement 
of the building are almost precisely similar to those of the Temple of 
the Cross ". 

A cursory glance shows that these three inscriptions belong together. 
Their center is occupied by a large design, which in I and II is a 
figure resembling a cross, usually thought to be the tree of life, on 
which the sacred quetzal bird sits. In III the central figure rests on 
the shoulders of two crouching persons. The lower part of the figure 
consists here of a rectangle curiously adorned, from which two crossed 
lances project, the point of intersection being hidden by a fantastic 



<• Diei Inschriften von Paleuque, Globus, v. 76, n. 11, 1899. 

583 



584 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bitll. 28 

face, which has been regarded as the symbol of the sun, hence the 
name of this inscription and of the temple. 

At the right and left of the central picture stands a priest, or, more 
correcth% a ]:)riest with his assistant, the latter smaller in size. In I 
and III the priest is on the right, in II on the left, and his assistant 
on the other side. The ]jriest in each of the three reliefs holds up 
his hands, also the assistant in III reaching toward him a form re- 
sembling a human being as a sacrifice. The assistants in I and II 
hold the hands downward and grasp an object unintelligible to me. 

Tablets of inscriptions on each side of the picture produce a sym- 
metric whole. In I each of these tablets has six columns, in II and 
III only four. I designate those in I by A to F and S to X, in II by 
A to D and L to O, in III by A to D and O to R. The intervening 
letters I employ for the smaller groups of glyphs, which are irregu- 
larly scattered about the central design. In I and II each vertical 
column consists of IT glyphs, in III of 16. 

Not only are the three inscriptions very much alike in their general 
arrangement, but they also correspond in many details. All have at 
the top, on the left, the superscription occurring on other Maya re- 
mains, which occupies the space of four glyphs. These superscrip- 
tions, indeed, dill'er in particulars which are still unexplained, but 
they all have the signs for 360 and 7,200 days, and must, therefore, 
denote something like " measure of time ". In fact, the three in- 
scriptions contain numerous periods and dates, which occur most fre- 
quently on inscription I, as I have stated in the article referred to. 

The superscription is followed by the eight glyphs A 3 to B 6, of 
which the several pairs undoubtedly indicate the periods of 144,000, 
7,200, 360, and 20 days, and in II and III there are two heads of gods 
for each period, a fact which is not yet clearly understood. In I, in- 
stead of the second head (in column B) there is the mere glyph which 
elsewhere denotes the period in question. I am inclined to conclude 
from this that I is more recent than II and III. 

A 7 B 7 in I has a hand, cleverly intimating that counting is to be 
done on its fingers, and there is no head beside it. This at all events 
denotes the single day. Both II and III, on the other hand, have two 
heads each. 

Farther on the three inscriptions become more unlike, yet they 
still offer many points of comparison. Thus in almost the same 
place they have a pointing or an extended hand — in I, B 11 ; in II, 
B 10; in III, A 11. 

The various glyphs which have a Ben-Ik above them occur in 
these three inscriptions, as in all Maya literature. They do not 
therefore prove that a more or less close connection exists between 
these inscriptions, but they deserve very special investigation. 

That the familiar signs for the days and those of the months, 



rflRSTEMANNl 



THREE TlSrSCRIPTIONS OF PALEISTQTTE 



585 



which are more difficult to recognize, often occur in each one of the 
three inscriptions, I need not point out in detail, any more than that 
(lie day 17 (Ahau) is very prominent here, as in all Maya literature. 

But I must call attention to a sign («, figure 113), the understand- 
ing of which would be an important step in advance. With many 
variants, it has the form given above. 

We find this glyph in the following places : 

I : A 11, 17, C 17, D 2, E 7, 13, 17, S 7, 11, U 15, V 4, 9, W 13, 16, X 2, 

7, 9. 
II : A 10, B 16, C 5. M 2. 
Ill : B 10, C 1, 10, Q 13. 

I believe the chief element of this sign to be a serpent from whose 
back arrow points project. This recalls the Aztec itzcoatl (" arrow 
snake "), as it is represented by Brasseur de Bourbourg (Histoire des 
nations civilisees du Mexique, volume 1, page xlv). This was also 
the name of the fourth king of Mexico. Can this sign have the mean- 












Fig. 113. Glyphs from the Palenque inscriptions. 

ing of combat or war ? I hesitate to refer it to the king who died in 
1440. 

Quite as important as points of agreement in all three inscriptions 
are points of agreement in two of them. The most important of 
these is the repetition on one inscription of a calendar date occurring 
on another. This can not be accidental, for the Mayas had 18,980 
different calendar dates, and each of the three inscriptions has only 
between 10 and 20. But it must be regarded as direct evidence of the 
dependence of one inscription on the other when in two inscriptions 
the same two calendar dates are consecutive and the actual interval 
between the two is even given in both cases. I will mention the fol- 
lowing instance first : 

I III 

Date IX 20 ; 6, 6 G 1 H 1 Q 6 R 6 and E F 1 

Interval 537 L 7 and 8 Q 14 R 14 

Date XIII 17; 18, 14 L 9 R 14, Q 15, and G 2 H 2 

Thus in Til the two dates occur even twice, but their distance apart 
is stated only once. 



586 BUREAU OF AMERICAIS]' ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

This interval, however, is really the correct one, but in III it is 
somewhat irregularly written. But 537=2X260+17, and there is, 
in fact, an interval of 17 days from the day IX 20 to XIII 17. 537 
also equals 365+172, and from the sixth day of the sixth month to the 
eighteenth day of the fourteenth month there are in fact 172 days. 

In none of the three cases, however, does the interval follow directly 
after the first date; after G 1 H 1 there first follow 8 glyphs, after 
E 1 F 1 there are 4, and after Q 6 K 6, 14. But of these 14 signs the 
last 6 are doubtless to be disregarded ; they consist of a period, a date, 
and two more glyphs, which, it is true, are connected in a manner 
as yet obscure with the rest of the passage in which they are inserted, 
the detailed investigation of which does not belong here. 

In the three places, therefore, there are left 8, 4, and 8 glyphs, 
which are inserted respectively between the first date and the period 
of time. We can, therefore, readily conjecture that these three 
groups have a similar purport and similar signs, and where the 
signs differ that one sign has been substituted for another. But I 
must leave the investigation of this point, like so many others, to 
the future. I only add that the sign I 1 in inscription I is like the 
sign E 2 in inscription III; both stand at the beginning of the 
group of inserted glyphs; and in G 1, which is third in the group of 
the inserted signs of inscription III, we find a glyph with the nu- 
meral 7 as a prefix ; with this corresponds the fourth in inscription 
I, the obliterated glyph L 2, of which, however, enough remains to 
show that it likewise has the prefix 7. Thus we certainly have two 
indications that the inscriptions are of like import. 

But I can furnish a second example of the agreement of two dates 
and their interval in two inscriptions. It is the following : 

II III 

Datell 13; 14,8 LlMl 04P4 

DatelllU; 15,8 M5L6 P708 

It is plain that two successive days are here meant, therefore an 
interval need not be stated. Between the two dates inscription II 
has 7 glyphs, inscription III only 5. Among these the first two 
in both cases are identic, and this is also true of the third, which is 
a very evident sign that the two inscriptions are of kindred import. 
It should be remarked, further, that the date II 13 is repeated in 
inscription II, N 16, in the following very remarkable connection : 

Period 604 13N14 

Date VIII 17; 8, 2 N 15 

Date II 13 (no month given) N 16 

But 604=2X260+84, or 365+239. From II 13 to VIII 17, how- 
ever, there arc 84 days (counting backward), hence the fourteenth 
day 'of the eighth month is to be supplied after N 16, as we found it 
above with the date II 13. 



fOrstbmann] THEEE IKSCETPTIOlSrS OF PALENQUE 587 

It is verj^ remarkable that the inscriptions I and II correspond 
with regard to the following point : In I, on the right and on the left 
of the lower part of the cross, there are two glyphs, each combined 
with the numeral 5 ; in II the middle part presents the same signs, 
although less symmetrically. One glyph in each of these two series 
of four glyphs contains the sign of the fifteenth day, Ezanab; the 
others are indistinct. But in a period of 20 years, each period of 5 
years begins with one of the days Lamat, Ben, Ezanab, and Akbal, 
and to this the glyphs seem to refer. 

The date VIII T ; 3, 17, is worthy of notice ; this occurs in I at O 1 
and 2 ; in II it even occurs twice, N and O 5 and E 1 and 2. 

In reference to the prominence of the day 17 (Ahau), already men- 
tioned, it should be remembered that the beginning of Maya chro- 
nology is to be sought, as a rule, in the day IV 17 ; 8, 18, in the year 
9 Ix, whilst sometimes the day I 17 ; 18, 17 in the year 3 Kan, which 
day is 2,200 days before the day first named, is also regarded as a 
starting point. In the last part of the Dresden manuscript the day 
VIII 17 seems to be important ; this day divides a tonalamatl, begin- 
ning with IV 17, in the ratio of 8 : 5, that is, in the ratio of the appar- 
ent Venus year to the solar year. If we examine our three inscrip- 
tions with respect to this day, we find the normal date IV 17 ; 8, 18 
actually in I, D 3 and E 4, and in III, P 2 and O 3. The day I 
17, but in a ditferent position in the year, appears in I, A 16, and m 

II, B 8 and D 14 ; the dav VIII 17 occurs in II, N 15. The day II 17, 
too, occurs in II, C 8; V 17, in I, U 10; XI 17, in II, C 13; XII 17, 
in III, Q 2 ; and XIII 17, in III, G 2. The other 19 days only occur 
singly. 

In my treatise mentioned above, I remarked, at the end, concerning 
inscription I, that in it these two glyphs (6, figure 113) occur nine 
times, apparently indissolubly united. 

The passages where they occur are F7E8, SlTl, T7S8, T15S 
16, U 6 V 6, V 11, U 12, U 16 V 16, W 3 X 3, W 17 X 17. In II we 
find this combination only twice, O 2 N 3 and E 3 and 4, once also in 

III, namely, at M 2 N 2. They are even found in the Temple of 
Inscriptions (see Maudslay, plate lxii, T U 9) . With this abundance 
of examples, it is hoped that further light will soon break on the 
meaning of these glyphs. 

Inscriptions II and III, but not I, also correspond with regard to 
the preceding sign, c. We find it in II, C 9 and M 10 ; in III, P 13. 
It consists of a hpnd grasping an object in such a way that it is held 
between the thumb and four fingers. ^Vhen the separate places 
where it occurs are compared with each other, the object can not 
well be anything but a fish, and fish have a meaning of no slight 
importance in the manuscripts of Maya literature. Does this glyph 
refer directly to fishing ? In the next four examples we see an agree- 



588 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull, 28 

ment of inscriptions II and III with the Temple of Inscriptions, 
while on the other hand these glyphs are lacking in I. 
■ The most important among them is a hand, of which the thumb and 
forefinger are plucking or picking or holding up some object (see d 
ande). 

Another of these two fig-ures occurs in inscription II, M 2 and O 8 ; 
in III, O 9 ; and in the Temple of Inscriptions (in Maudslay, plate 
62), in D 2, H 1, and G 11. The second figure means, as the context 
shows, nothing else than the day IV 4, or IV Manik. I think that 
in my article on the Day Gods of the Mayas (Globus, volume 73, 
number 9) I have pointed out that the fourth day, the hand, and a 
hunting god belong together, but I do not know what the hand was 
doing in this connection. Now, the second of the above signs shows 
in two passages in the inscriptions of the Teiiiple of Inscriptions that 
it is hanging the snares in which the game— the same day is called in 
Aztec Mazatl (" deer, or roe ")— is to be caught, such snares as have 
become familiar to us as forming the subject of an entire section of 
Codex Troano-Cortesianus. We see a similar snare with a XIII in 
an inscription of the Palace of Palenque, in Maudslay, volume 4, 
plate 29. 

The following three glyphs have been met with already, in my 
article on the Inscriptions of the Temple, as parts of those groups 
which I believe should be regarded as formulas of prayers, but these 
can hardly be in question in inscriptions I, II, and III. The sign 
represented in / usually occupies the first place in the formulas of 
prayer and seems to be only a left fist. It occurs in II, E 7 and M 8, 
as well as in III, P 10. 

A second sign is the accompanying figure, g, resembling a chess- 
board, which is likewise familiar from the Temple of Inscriptions. 
The passages where it occurs are in II, O 10, in III, D 6 and P 6. 

When I first became familiar with these inscriptions none of the 
glyphs attracted my attention so much as the recumbent person often 
occurring in the Temple of Inscriptions (see h). 

This glyph occurs in Inscription II no less than four times: D 2, 
C 6, M 4, and N 10. In III it seems to be lacking, yet i\\Q question 
arises, whether the two crossed legs in B 11, i, which I have seen in no 
other passage, may not be meant for a recumbent human body viewed 
from below. Perhaps these figures are connected with the large pic- 
torial representations on the pillars of the Temple of Inscriptions 
(Maudslay, volume 4, plates 45, 46), where the priests bear in their 
arms a recumbent figure about the size of a child 4 years old. 

The agreement between inscriptions II and III is most pronounced 
in the two columns which stand directly at the right of the central 
pictorial representation. These are columns L and M in II and O 
and P in III. I will place side by side the glyphs that are exactly 



FOESTBMANN] THREE INSCRIPTIONS OF PALENQUE 589 

alike, a few of which I have already discussed above, and inclose in 
parentheses the number of intervening signs that are unlike: 



II 


III 


LI 


04 


Ml 


P4 


L2 


5 


(1) 


(1) 


L3 


06 


(4) 


(3) 


M5 


P7 


L6 


08 


M6 


P8 



II 


III 


(1) 


(1) 


M7 


P9 


L8 


OlO 


MS 


P 10 




(3) 


L9 


O 12 


M9 


P12 


LIO 


13 


MIO 


P13 



Hence in each 20 glyphs 14 are alike, occurring in the same order 
of succession, and only 6 in each are unlike. But even of these M 2 
proves to belong to P 5, possibly as a variant, as it has the same 
prefix. 

Many comparisons of other glyphs in these inscriptions might be 
made here, but enough has no doubt been said to stimulate further 
research. It is a remarkable fact that the glyphs of the individual 
gods do not seem to appear at all in these tablets as they have been 
pointed out to us by Schellhas. At most I believe that I have a clew 
to the two gods C and K, perhaps also to D and A ; but to follow up 
this clew now would lead me too far. 

All that I have communicated here doubtless gives the impression 
that I scarcely know how to answer the obvious question, AVhat does 
all this mean? that in the decipherment of the inscriptions, even far 
more than in that of the manuscripts, Ave are yet only at the very 
beginning. This is certainly to be regretted, especially on account 
of the progressive decay of the originals, but still more unfortunate 
is the lack of workers who will earnestly strive for the advancement 
of science in this department. Even the" Americanist congresses 
either regard Maya research as secondary, although it concerns itself 
directly with the highest mark attained by all aboriginal Indian 
culture, or they give it no consideration at all. So I feel that my 
position is an isolated one, and I foresee, besides, that my activity 
in this field of reseach will soon be terminated. Therefore let us 
hope that this communication, aside from its especial object, may be 
regarded as an invitation to cooperate with me. 



COMPARATIVE STUDIES IN THE FIELD 
OF MAYA ANTIQUITIES 



F. SCHELLHAS 



591 



CONTENTS 



Page 

Introduction 595 

Written remains 597 

Representations on manuscripts and inscriptions 599 

The human form 599 

Tatooing 600 

Dress 601 

General characteristics 601 

Footgear 603 

Dress and ornamentation of the leg 604 

Arm ornaments 606 

Dress of the lower part of the body 607 

Dress of the upper part of tlie body 610 

Neclvlaces, collars, and ear ornaments 613 

Headdress 617 

Utensils and kindred objects 620 

Conclusions 621 

7238— No. 28—05 38 598 



COMPARATIVE STUDIES IN THE FIELD 
OF MAYA ANTIQUITIES « 



By p. Schelliias 



INTRODUCTION 

In Central America aboriginal civilization reached its highest 
development among the Maya races. Its remains offer material for 
the scientific reconstruction of this old and interesting domain of 
man's endeavor in the realms of thought and culture, and in the form 
and extent in which they now lie before us they are of three kinds : 

1. The architectural remains, the temples and palaces, with repre- 
sentations in relief and inscriptions. 

2. The Maya manuscripts. 

3. The smaller antiquities, which have received a material accession 
in the Yucatan collection at the Berlin Museum of Ethnolog}^ 

As regards the value of these various kinds of antiquities to the 
investigator, it must above all be remembered that we are dealing 
here with a civilized people, whose earliest phases of intellectual 
activity and of thought had already found expression in a species of 
literature and a distinct stjde of art. Such an inquiry must be first 
directed to the most perfect and best developed phenomena. If we 
understand these, the interpretation of all subordinate and antecedent 
phenomena follows as a matter of course. I believe, therefore, that 
the chief stress should be laid upon deciphering the written charac- 
ters, and that the solution of all questions should be sought for there 
(see Die Mayahandschrift der Koniglichen Bibliothek in Dresden, 
in the Zeitschrift fiir Ethnologie, 1886).^ The literary productions 
contain the quintessence of the entire civilization ; they are the key to 
the comprehension of the whole. It has since been acknowledged in 
various quarters that the mode of deciphering that I suggested was 

" Vergleichende Studien anf dem Felde der Maya-AltertViiimer, Internationales Archiv 
fiir Ethnographic, v. 3, Berlin, 1890. 

^ Also my Gottergestalten der Mayahandschriften, 2d ed., Berlin, 1904 ; translated into 
English in Papers of the Peabody Museum, v. 4, n. 1, 1904. 

595 



596 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [boll. 28 

the true one, although the results could be but scanty at first. Valu- 
able contributions have been made by Seler, with the aid of rich 
material from cognate departments (Zeitschrift ftir Ethnologic, 
1888). On the part of the American scholars, too, a gratifying suc- 
cess has been attained in this field (Aids to the Study of the Maya 
Codices, by Cyrus Thomas, Washington, 1888), and the amazing 
results which Professor Forstemann has won in the domain of the 
Maya calendar and chronology are not far removed from a complete 
solution. 

Having thus gained a firm footing, in contrast to the earlier fanci- 
ful attempts, and an important addition having been made to the 
material for investigation in the Yucatan collection of the Ethno- 
logic Museum at Berlin, we can now take a more comprehensive sur- 
vey of the whole field than was hitherto possible. The first question 
which presses upon us in such a comparative survey is in regard 
to the unity of the whole, the period and place of origin of the 
individual relics. The material must be carefully sifted and sorted 
before it can be studied. In this respect Americanist research is 
laboring under great disadvantages. In other fields ethnology col- 
lects its material among nations, who, though on the eve of entire 
absorption by European civilization, still live in a condition which 
makes a study of their organism possible. Among nations, like 
the Hindoos and Chinese, whose traditions are carefully fostered, 
and who still preserve a close connection with the peculiar creations 
of their past in the forms in which they have developed down through 
the ages to the present time, the study of the earliest periods of 
civilization is a comparatively easy matter. But in America ancient 
civilization breaks off abruptly and forever at the point where it fell 
a victim to a stronger power. No continuous development took place ; 
no tradition preserved what had already been acquired. The bearers 
of that more powerful civilization had no comprehension of humanity 
when it manifested itself in a manner so utterly alien to and remote 
from their own ; the tender care with which the remains of a peculiar, 
highly developed intellectual life are cherished in these days was 
wholly unknown to them. The origin of the little which still remains, 
therefore, is for the most part undetermined. Archeologic diffi- 
culties are also added to this difficulty of ethnologic investigation. 
A multifarious swarming of races prevailed in Central America: 
civilized nations roamed hither and thither; centers of civilization 
flourished and perished; numerous languages existed side by side, 
and were exchanged, changing and altered with marvelous rapidity. 
Without transcending the limits of science in fanciful suppositions, 
which are never more dangerous than in this domain, we may assume 
that many chapters of ancient human history have sunk into oblivion 



SCHBLLHAS] WRITTEN REMAIN'S 597 

on Central American soil, and that many a civilized race, of which 
not the slightest memor}^ remains, existed upon that soil long before 
the conquest. Where there is no difficulty in determining the local 
origin of remains, as in the case of buildings and monuments, the 
obstacles in the way of an ethnologic and chronologic determination 
are often all the greater. 

Inductive inquiry into this ancient civilization must begin with an 
external comparison of the remains. In this way alone can we 
attempt to determine in how far they are of the same origin. We 
can pave the way to an accurate determination of the period and 
source of separate antiquities only by means of careful sifting and 
discrimination based on their external characteristics. 

WRITTEN REMAINS 

The written remains, to begin with these, show great uniformity. 
We may assert positively that all the written material from Central 
America proceeds from one and the same source: the characters are 
essentially the same in the inscriptions, in the manuscripts, and on 
the clay vessels and other lesser antiquities. There was but one 
mode of writing in Central America, which emanated from one 
center of civilization. The four manuscripts in particular are plainly 
of one and the same origin. They may readily be divided into two 
groups. The Troano and Cortesian codices are entirely similar, and 
are simpler and ruder. They are undoubtedly'' fragments of a single 
manuscript. The Dresden manuscript and Codex Peresianus, which 
also strongly resemble each other, are more elegant and artistic in 
text and pictorial representations. It is highly probable that all 
the manuscripts pertain to one and the same nation, but whether 
they belong to the same period " is very doubtful. The forms of the 
characters differ too much for us to ascribe the differences merely to 
the peculiarities of two writers. The presumption that Codex 
Troano-Cortesianus is the oldest lies near at hand, but it is contra- 
dicted by the fact that not only the representations but also the 
written characters in this manuscript are simpler, more conventional- 
ized in form, than in the Dresden and Peresianus codices. Gljqohic 
characters never become more complex with time; they rather be- 
come simplified; they become conventional figures, such as occur 
repeatedly ^n Codex Troano-Cortesianus (compare forms a and c. 
figure 114, from the Dresden codex, and h and d^ figure 114, from the 
Troano codex). 

» Professor Forstemann has devoted himself particularly to the question of the period 
of the Maya manuscripts (see his Commentare zur Dresdener Handschrift, Dresden, 
1901 ; Zur Madrider Handschrift, Danzig, 1902 ; and Zur Pariser Handschrift, Danzig. 
1903). 



598 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



[BULL. 28 



It is therefore difficult to settle the question. It is possible that the 
very skillful scribe of the Dresden manuscript took the more elaborate 
forms of the inscriptions for his models. 

We have already (Zeitschrift fiir Ethnologic, 1886, page 50) 
emphasized the fact that the forms of the outlines of the written 
characters show characteristic differences. In the Troano and Cor- 
tesian codices the form of the parallelogram prevails, /, while the 
Dresden and Peresian codices give preference to a peculiar ellipse, e. 
The inscriptions have more or less perfect circles or squares with 
rounded corners, g. 

Two isolated exceptions to the uniform similarity of the written 
characters may be mentioned. In Stephens's Incidents of Travel in 
Central America, Chiapas, and Yucatan, on plate xiii, we have the 
back of one of those statues found in such large numbers at Copan 
covered with glyphics which consist of entire, singularly contorted 



S 



o 




^o 
^a 





ii-.ii:i0lii 







Fig. 114. Glyphs from the Dresden codex. 

human figures. We may, however, doubt whether this wholly iso- 
lated instance of such ideographic representation has the character 
of writing; it may possibly be intended to represent scenes from the 
myth of the deity in question. No less striking characters occur, 
however, on a small clay image in the Yucatan collection at the Berlin 
Museum of Ethnology. A short thickset tigure, with a huge head- 
dress, sits or stands on a bench-shaped pedestal covered with 

characters, h. 

They appear to be written characters, as is indicated by the inter- 
spersed numerals (an 8 and four times a 3) as is usual in Maya 
writing. Otherwise they show considerable divergence from the 
usual form of Maya glyphics and are wholly unintelligible. A con- 
jecture may, however, be hazarded. When numerals occur in Maya 
writino-, it is almost invariably in connection with calendric and 
astronomic dates. It is very probable that the clay figure in ques- 
tion represents a divinity of the calendar, and that the inscription 



RCHELLHAS] REPRESENTATIOlSr ON MANUSCRIPTS AND INSCRIPTIONS 599 

has a mythologic calendric meaning («, figure 115, kin, " the sun "; 6, 
the same; c, the waning moon; f/, tlie increasing moon; 6, the name 
sign of the deity represented, similar to /, from the Dresden manu- 
script, also the sign for a calendar divinity). 

Besides this remarkable inscription, we also find in the Yucatan 
collection of the Berlin Museum of Ethnology two pottery vessels 
with glyphic characters, one in round, the other in square forms, 
just as in the different manuscripts. Almost all the characters on 
these vessels may be inclentified with characters in the manuscripts; 
but this unfortunately does not determine their meaning. 

While the written remains leave no room to doubt that they are all 
from one original source, a comparison of the pictorial representations 
in the manuscripts with those on the reliefs and on the objects com- 
posing the Yucatan collection shoAvs such startling differences that 
any attempt to explain them meets with the greatest difficulties, and a 
common origin is scarcely to be assumed, unless, indeed, the existing 
remains belong to widely differing periods of time. 



I I :i0 



?i? 



c 



d e f g 

Fig. 115. Glyphs from the Dresden codex. 

The representations of the human form with its dress, ornaments, 
weapons, etc., are especially well adapted to serve as objects for 
comparison. 

EEPRESENTATIONS ON MANUSCRIPTS AND INSCRIP- 
TIONS 

The Human Form 

The physical characteristics of the persons represented are in gen- 
eral always the same. We everywhere meet with the artificially 
deformed skull (compare Landa, Eelacion de las Cosas de Yucatan, 
chapter 30), the large hooked nose, and the protruding lips, all of 
which are evidently racial peculiarities of the peoples of the Maya 
region. So, too, that " los indios de Yucatan son bien dispuestos y 
altos " (Landa, chapter 20) is repeatedly confirmed by figures on the 
reliefs and by the clay images in the Yucatan collection. A beard, 
which, it is well known, the Mayas lacked, occurs in very rare in- 
stances and of scanty growth in the Dresden manuscript (for instance, 
on pages 7 above, 11 in the middle, and 27) and always in the case of 
a particular deity, the god D. It also occurs once in the Troano 
codex, on page 24 above. A figure with complete moustache and chin 
beard, of the form worn by the Spaniards at the time of the conquest, 
occurs in the Yucatan collection; nothing similar appears either on 



600 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



[BULL. 28 



the reliefs or in the manuscripts. There is nothing to favor the 
assumption that the figure represents a European. It shows quite 
the usual type seen in similar representations. 

Tattooing 

Tattooing was customary among the Mayas. Landa gives an 
account of it in chapter 22. We find but little in the manuscripts 
which we can positively regard as tattooing. As such we may cer- 
tainly consider the foregoing character, g, figure 115 (cimi, " death ") , 
on the cheek of the sitting figure from the Dresden codex, page 28, 
middle (priest of the death god), and perhaps the sign akbal 
("night", "dark") on the forehead of the same figure (see, too, 
Dresden codex, page 5, middle), also the sign for the sun on the body 
of the figure (sun god) in the Dresden codex on page 15, above. 
It is hard to say whether the singular flourishes on the faces of many 
of the deities'^ represented are intended for tattooing or whether 




5 d f 

Fig. 116. Tattooing and facial decoration. 

they are not more probably conventional symbolic accessories to the 
representation. A peculiarity of the manuscripts, which is especially 
noticeable in the written characters and which consists in indicating 
the jawbone with the teeth in human faces (especially in the case of 
the death god, but not in his alone) , recurs as tattooing on a figure in 
the Yucatan collection at the museum. The figure given on plate i of 
the Veroffentlichungen des Konigiichen, Museum fiir Volkerkunde, 
October, 1888, one of the finest pieces in the collection, on close exam- 
ination shows tattooing on the face, as restored in the accompanying 
cut, Z), figure 116. 

« It would lead us too far to go into particulars. We may mention the decorated eye 
(a, fig. 116), whicli occurs so often, also the face of the deity C, who is frequently 
represented in Codex Troano-Cortesianus, and the god F, the figure with the thicli black 
line on the face, Troano codex, p. 30, Ijelow, Codex Cortesianus, p. 42, etc. 



SCHELLHASJ DRESS 601 

Compare with this the head of the death god so often represented 
in the manuscripts, for instance, on pages 15, 23, and elsewhere in the 
Dresden codex (see c), in wliich the lower jawbone with the teetli is 
likewise always seen, drawn very plainly; also the glyphs given above 
(«, c, and d, figure 111). 

This tattooed jawbone with teeth was apparently meant to impart 
to the face a terrible aspect. A decided preference seems to have ex- 
isted for tattooing the vicinity of the mouth. The accompanying 
head (cZ, figure 116) occurs frequently in the manuscripts, for instance, 
in the Dresden codex, page 14, below, and in Codex Cortesianus, page 
33, above. Viewed from the front it would give the mouth tattooing 
in e. We find quite similar faces in the Yucatan collection, where 
tattooing also occurs most frequently about the mouth (see ^, A, «, 
and k). 

The peculiar object occurring upon two figures in the Yucatan col- 
lection is also probably to be regarded as a kindred form of facial 
decoration. It is the facial ornament shown in the accompanying 
cut, I. 

We can hardly explain this object otherwise than as a chin orna- 
ment, possibly metallic, possibl}^ connected w^th the ear ornaments. 
It has, as a comparison shows, the closest resemblance to the drawings 
of tattooed jawbones here reproduced from the manuscripts, and has 
most probably the same meaning. There is much to be said against 
the supposition that it is a beard, particularly the fact that the rep- 
resentation of a beard on another figure in the collection, already 
mentioned, is wholly different and much more natural. 

There is no tattooing to be seen in the relief representations. This, 
however, is probably due to the rougher nature of those representa- 
tions, in which less attention is paid to details. The rudely executed 
Codex Troano-Cortesianus also has little of the sort. 

Dress 

generan characteristics 

Landa makes a few statements in regard to the dress of the ancient 
inhabitants of Yiicatan which may serve as a basis for comparative 
investigation. The bishop tells us in his Eelacion (chapter 20) : 

Their dress consisted of a girdle, of the width of a man's hand, which served 
them as breeches and hose (bragas y calgas), and which they bound about their 
loins several times, in such fashion that one end hung down in front, tJie other 
behind.o These ends were carefully wrought by the women and adorned 
with embroidery and feather work. Over this they wore large square mantles,* 
which they fastened on the shoulder, and on their feet sandals of hemp or 
tanned deerskin. They used no other clothing. 



" This is the same article ot' dress which the Aztecs cnlled maxtli. 
"Called zuyen according to Cogolludo, Historia de Yucatan. 



(302 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

In another place (chapter 5) Landa says, speaking of the ancient 
buildings : 

That all these buildings were erected by the same Indies who live there 
now « is plainly seen by the naked men portrayed on them in stone, whose 
privy parts are covered with broad girdles, which they call in their language 
ex.6 

And we are told of the warriors that they went forth to war " clad 
in the skins of tigers and bears ". 

Concerning the dress of the w^omen, Landa says, after paying them 
a very flattering and, we hope, unbiased compliment (" son en general 
de mejor dispusicion que las espahiolas y mas grandes y bien 
hechas ") ," that it consisted merely of a skirt, which covered the body 
from the hips down, while in some parts of Yucatan still another 
article of dress was used, which covered the breast. A long, sacklike 
jacket, reaching to the hips and fastened there by a belt, was also 
worn by many. In chapter 3 he states further that the female 
divinities of the country were represented " vestidas de la cinta abaxo 
y cubiertos los pechos, como usan las indias ". Lastly, also a cover- 
ing is mentioned, which the women use when sleeping, and which 
" when they take journeys they commonly roll up and carry on their 
shoulders ". 

The meager accounts of other authors for the most part agree with 
the foregoing, for instance, CogoUudo in his Historia de Yucatan. 
Bancroft, The Native Eaces of the Pacific States, draAvs from 
recorded statements the conclusion that the dress of the various 
classes of the population did not differ greatly among the Mayas, 
save that, of course, the material used by persons of higher rank was 
finer. Warriors were, however, as already mentioned, provided with 
special articles of dress (skins), and the priests were also undoubt- 
edly distinguished by their dress from the " jorofanum vulgus ". 
Landa says, in his account of the Yucatec ceremony of infant baptism 
(chapter 26), that the officiating priest '' w^ore an overdress of red 
feathers, decorated with feathers of various colors, while larger 
feathers were pendent from it, and to the lower hem were attached 
long strips of cotton reaching to the ground. On his head he wore a 
sacerdotal cap of the same feather work and in his hand he had a 
kind of aspergill of wood, with elaborate carvings, upon which, in- 
stead of horsehair, rattlesnakes' tails were fastened ". One of these 
sprinklers is depicted in Codex Cortesianus, page 26, lower middle. 

A glance at the representations in the manuscripts, the reliefs, and 
the figures in the Yucatan collection is enough to show that, on the 



« This could not have been accepted as a fact beyond a doubt even at that time. How 
else could Landa have thought of bringing forward express testimony in its favor? 

"Ex in the Maya of to-day (according to Pio Perez) means "breeches". 

•^Moreover, other authors say the same; for instance, Cogolludo (Book IV, chap. C) 
and Herrera (Historia de las Indias Occidentales). 



SCHELLHAS] 



FOOT GEAR 603 



one hand, the dress was far more varied and manifold, and that, on 
the other, Landa's description is not entirely accurate, nor do the 
remains correspond among themselves. Brasseur de Bourbourg's 
assertion : " Le vetement chez la plupart des America ins eta it immu- 
able " (Hist, des nat. civ., volume 3, page 647) is contradicted by the 
antiquities, Herrera's remark that " the Mayas dress like the Mex- 
icans " is not wholly accurate, and we can by no means draw the con- 
clusion from the remains, as Bancroft does, that the dress of people 
of various ranks among the Maya was very uniform. 



FOOT GEAR 



Let us begin with the foot gear. According to Landa the Mayas 
wore sandals. While these occur constantly in the Mexican manu- 
scripts, they are almost wholly wanting in the Maya manuscripts. 
Cogolludo (page 187) says, indeed, that the Maya mostly went bare- 
foot; however, if they used sandals at all we might expect to find them 
frequently on the persons represented in the manuscripts (priests, 
warriors, gods, etc.). CogoUudo's remark plainly refers to the daily 
custom of the common people. In the Dresden manuscript the feet 
are almost always bare and quite carefully drawn. There are but few 





ah c d e f 

Fig. 117. Representations of sandals, from Dresden codex and inscriptions. 

places where we find sandals (pages 26, 28, 46, 47, and 50). On 
pages 26 and 28 they have the form of a, figure 117; on pages 46, 47, 
and 50 that of h. 

This is the same form that this foot gear has in the Mexican manu- 
scripts (see r, Codex Telleriano-Eemensis, and d, Fejervary codex). 
On the other hand, not a single sandal occurs either in the Trqano 
codex or in Codex Cortesianus; all the feet are uncovered; yet san- 
dals are apparently quite common in the very badly preserved Codex 
Peresianus, usually in the form of h above. They are certainly far 
more frequent on the reliefs than in the Maya manuscripts, but here 
of an entirely different form (see e, bas-relief at Labphak, after 
Stephens, and /, drawing on a door at Chichen, after the same). 
These forms of foot gear occurring on Yucatec reliefs are, to all ap- 
pearances, not sandals, but complete shoes covering the entire foot, 
no mention of which is made by Spanish authors. Besides these, 
simple sandals also occur on the reliefs. 

In the figures of the Yucatan collection at the Berlin Museum the 
feet are, for the most part, -;o very slightly treated that it is not pos- 



604 



BUREAIJ OF AMEEICAN ETHNOLOGY 



[bull. 28 



sible to tell whether they are clad in sandals. Some of them, how- 
ever, are evidently bare. The fine, lifelike figure of a priest copied in 
the Veroffentlichungen des Koniglichen Museum fiir Volkerkunde, 
October, 1888, plate x, wears distinctly executed sandals, of the form 
given in «, figure 118. We also find in the same collection a certain 
number of large clay feet with sandals, &, strongly resembling those 
given above taken from the Dresden manuscript. These feet do not 
seem to have been broken off larger figures, but to have an independ- 
ent purpose, one of religious symbolism. This view is confirmed by 
the circumstance that similar feet are given in the Troano codex, 
page 21, in a sacrificial scene, c. 








e f <J 

Fig. 118. Eepi-esentations of sandals and leg ornaments. 

The form and manner of fastening these various foot coverings is 
easily recognized from the illustrations (see a similar modern exam- 
ple that follows the ancient models in Guatemala in Stoll. Ethnol- 
ogie der Indianer von Guatemala, 1889, supplement to Internationales 
Archiv fiir Ethnographic, plate i, figure 15). This one subject of 
comparison shows how strikingly the remains differ one from the 
other. 

DRESS AND ORNAMENTATION OP THE LEG 

While foot wear is so rare in the Maya manuscripts, a peculiar 
article of dress or ornament for the lower part of the leg is all the 
more common, but only for males, however, as the women do not 
wear it. This object is to be seen on almost every figure in all the 
Maya manuscripts, and may be regarded as distinctly characteristic 
of these representations (another proof of the common origin of the 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



BULLETIN 28 PLATE XLV 




DRESS AS SHOWN IN SCULPTURED FIGURES, YUCATAN 



SCHELLHAS] 



DRESS AND ORNAMENTATION OF LEG 



605 



manuscripts). It takes the form of d in all the manuscripts, and 
it appears in similar shape and almost as often as an arm ornament. 
To judge by the manuscripts, it must have been in general use as a 
national article of ornament. Hence it is the more amazing that we 
nowhere encounter it among the reliefs nor on any of the figures in 
the Yucatan collection. A leg ornament appears, it is true, quite fre- 
quently among the former, but ncA^'r in the shape which we regu- 
larly find in the manuscripts. Compare e (from a doorpost at 
Kabah, after Stephens), and / (mural decoration at Chichen, after 
the same). Such coverings for the entire lower leg are wholly absent 
from the Yucatan collection. 

Besides the above-mentioned leg ornament, single instances of an- 
other kind appear in the manuscripts, shaped like g. It is found only 
on the figure of the death god and evidently forms one of his attri- 
butes (see Die Gottergestalten der Mayahanclschriften, page 9). Its 
purpose is readily grasped. It consists of rattles or bells, buckled to 
the leg in order to produce a rhythmic sound during the dance, as 
is still the custom among North American tribes. 




T S t U V IV 

Fig. 119. Leg and wrist oi'naments. 

Lastly, we have a few instances, for example, Troano codex, page 
IT*, of a simple anklet like a and h, figure 119 ; also in one place 
(Dresden codex, page 50) as a leg decoration beloAv the knee, c. 

Similar objects occur in the Yucatan collection, as on the before- 
mentioned figure of the priest, d, and on another figure, e. These 
simple leg rings are also frequent in the reliefs at Palenque. A rich 
covering for the whole loAver leg is also not unusual there, /. 

A foot ring, apparently made of the feather work that is held in 
such high esteem in Central America, occurs on a figure in a carving 
on a beam of sapota w^oocl at Kabah, (/, after Stephens. Similai i- 
amples are frequent at Palenque. 



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[BULL. 28 



ARM ORNAMENTS 

We have already stated that the leg ornament characteristic of the 
manuscript occurs also as an arm ornament, h. It is seen on women 
as well as men (see Dresden codex, pages IT to 19) . So, too, the other 
leg ornaments represented in the Maya codices appear as arm orna- 
ments, both the bells (and this again in the death god, for instance, 
Dresden codex, page 53) and the plain rings. The latter often occur 
in more varied form, as i (Dresden codex, page 27) and k (the same 

place, page 28). 

Here, too, we have correspondences between the representations in 
the codices and the figures in the Yucatan collection. Among the lat- 




e f f7 . 

Fig. 120. Dress of the lower part of the body of females. 

ter we find, aside from the ornament characteristic of the manu- 
scripts, quite similar bracelets, as I, m, n, and the form o« occurring 
on the figure of the priest ; the forms p, q, and r also occur. 

Nor are these arm ornaments wanting on the Yucatec reliefs, and 
here again are found the forms of those in the manuscripts and the 
Yucatan collection, s« t," a from Kabah ; i\ from Labphak ; u\ from 
Chichen. 



"These figures apparently represent an arm ornament of feather work (compare the 
anklet from Kahah, o)- 



SCHELLHAS] DEESS OF LOWER PART OF BODY 607 

The ornament met with on almost every figure in the manuscript is 
not to be found, however, on the reliefs, nor on the pottery images of 
the collection. 

DRESS OF THE LOWER PART OF THE BODY 

For men. According to Landa's description, this part of the dress 
consisted of a strip of a hand's breadth, which was wound several 
times about the hips, so that the ends hung down in front and behind. 
Such an article of apparel does indeed occur in the manuscripts; it 
was evidently the simplest undergarment, usuallj^ worn by the lower 
classes of the people. In this simplest form it appears in the manu- 
scripts as shown in «, figure 120 (Dresden codex, page 6, middle, com- 
pare page 5, middle, etc.) and 5, figure 120 (Troano codex, page 12*. 
above). 

This is undoubtedly the cotton strip of a hand's breadth, which was 
wrapped several times about the hips in the manner described. The 
ends hanging down before and behind are everywhere to be seen, both 
here and in the following similar representations. 

However, a more elaborate form of this article of clothing, which 
occurs most frequently in the codices, differs from Landa's description 
in so far that the strip is broader and to all appearance passes around 
the body, not several times, but only once, as in 6-, same figure (Dres- 
den codex, page 65, above) and d (Troano codex, page IT, above). 

This form, which is more like a belt made of leather or some similar 
stiff material than like a strip of cotton, is the rule in the manuscripts 
(and indeed also uniform in them all). The supposition that this 
object forms a sort of belt is strengthened by the fact that another 
article of clothing, an apron, is often added beneath, which is held up 
by this belt, as, for instance, in e (Dresden codex, page 5, above) and 
/ (Codex Peresianus, page 16). 

But this apron also sometimes occurs in connection with the simple 
cotton strip, as in Dresden codex, page 6, below, g. 

This belt with the apron occurs in all the manuscripts as though an 
article of dress in general use. The stuff' was evidently decorated 
with bright-colored ornaments, some of which are recognizable in the 
representations. We find a more elaborate form in the Dresden 
codex, where above the belt a piece is added, which covers the lower 
part of the body 1i (Dresden codex, page 14, below). 

A departure from this generally customary mode of dress occurs in 
the case of one figure only, and that is the striding priest in the Dres- 
den manuscrij^t, pages 25 to 28, above. Exactly corresponding to 
the description which Landa gives of the priests' costume (Relacion, 
chapter 26), long strips of cotton reaching to the ground are fastened 
to the belt, which is of the ordinary shape, while a row of large 



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[BULL. 28 



feathers hang down over them, «, figure 121 (Dresden codex, page 
27), and &, somewhat different (page 25). The upper part of this 
figure is naked, save for the elaborate neck ornament. 

^Phite XLV, number 5, the figure of a priest in the Yucatan collec- 
tion (compare the description of this figure by Doctor ITlile in the 
Veroffentlichungen aus dem Kaiserlichen Museum fiir Volkerkunde, 
October, 1888, pages 15 and 16) affords a suitable object for compari- 
son with the above-mentioned example of sacerdotal dress, the only 
one in the manuscripts. Instead of the cotton strips we have here 
an obvious stiff belt, as in the codices, below it an apron, which is 
open in front, just as in the manuscripts, / and </, figure 120 
The pendent strips of cotton are missing, however. In the place ot 
them we see the legs clad in a kind of feather-work breeches, nothing 






a ^ 

Pig. 121. Dress of the lower body, from codices and sculptures. 

analoo-ous to which occurs in the manuscripts or on the reliefs, unless 
we ciroose to compare the leg ornaments already described (see e, fig- 
ure 118, and /, figure 119) . Besides this, the upper part of the body 
is fully dressed in a feather shirt, which even has sleeves, a thing 
which occurs nowhere else in the codices nor apparently on the 
reliefs Here, too, together with certain resemblances, we find strik- 
ino- differences. But we shall return to this figure farther on." 

Still o-reater are the differences found by a comparison ot the 
remaining clay figures in the Yucatan collection and tlie figures 
on the reliefs with the representations thus far described. The cotton 
strip described by Landa, occasionally occurring in the manuscripts, 
is very unusual on the Yucatec reliefs. It is unmistakably recog- 
nized in a representation at Kabah {c, figure 121, after Stephens). 

^ See the standing figure on the has-relief in Stephens's Central America, n. 26. The 
belt there has the s^me^ decoration as in the above figure of a priest m the collection. 



SCHELLHASJ 



DEESS OF LOWER PART OF BODY 



609 



The often-mentioned belt is also frequently seen on the reliefs; 
both on the temple walls at Palenque "■ and in the statues at Copan 
this article of dress occurs, frequently combined Avith an apron, as in 
the Maya codices. 

A cotton strip of a hand's breadth, such as Landa describes, and 
as undoubtedly occurs in the manuscripts, is scarcely to be found 
among the figures in the Yucatan collection, but, on the other hand, 
there is a very similar article of dress, that is, a wide loin cloth 
wound round the hips of the form,'^ seen in «, &, c, figure 122. 

In the manuscripts this loin cloth sometimes so completely covers 
the legs of the sitting figures that it looks as if the figure wore trous- 
ers, '' bragas j calcas ", according to Landa (see e and /?, figure 120). 




/ 9 

Fig. 122. Dress of females, from Dresden codex and monuments. 

As a rule the lower part of the body of the cla}^ images is very 
superficially executed, so that we often can hardly tell how it is 
dressed. 

Foo' vjomen. According to Landa (see above), the Maya women 
wore a skirt from the hips dowm. Cogolluclo says the same, and 
according to him this garment was called " pic ".'^ 

In this respect all the illustrations agree. In the codices, on the 
reliefs, and in the Yucatan collection such a skirt forms a part of the 

" See the dress of the figure of a priest on two reUefs at Palenque ; the well-known 
representation of the cross and the relief in casa n. 3, after Stephens. There, too, it 
consists of a wide cloth. 

"Pic in Maya is fustan (fastian petticoat), according to Beltran de Santa Rosa Maria, 
Arte del idioma Maya. 

7238— No. 28—05 39 



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BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



[BULL. 28 



women's usual attire. The representations at Palenque and Copan 
show us exactly the same thing. Such petticoats are very common in 
the Maya manuscripts (see d, figure 122, Dresden codex, page IT, 
above; e, same figure, from the Dresden codex, page 21, above and 
/, from Codex Cortesianus, page 35). They are almost always 
richly decorated and seem to have been an especially favored article 
of the weaver's and dyer's art among the Mayas. Especially dis- 
tinct ornamentations of a very tasteful kind, quite recalling the 
Greek classic style, occur in a figure in the Troano codex, page 27, 
below (plate xlv, number 7). In another from the Troano codex 
(page 25, plate xlv, number 8) the skirt is shorter than is usually 
seen elsewhere in the manuscripts. The women of the lower classes, 
however, as well as the men, seem to have vv^orn merely a simple cloth 
about their hips, examples of which are seen in the Dresden jnanu- 
script, as g, figure 122 (Dresden codex, page 16, below). 




a h c 

Fig. 123. Mantles from Maya codices. 

Petticoats like those copied above from the manuscripts, and with 
similar ornaments, are worn, as already stated, by the female figures 
in the reliefs of the Yucatan collection. Here, too, the ornamenta- 
tion often displays graceful and tasteful meander patterns. This 
article of dress seems to have been of like appearance and nature 
throughout Central America. It occurs as frequently among the 
relief? at Palenque as among the idols of Copan, and the pattern m 
both places agrees exactly with a, figure 123 (see Stephens, Central 
America, number 7, statue at Copan, and number 31, bas-relief at 
Palenque). In old Mayapan proper (Yucatan) female figures are 
very rare among the architectural remains, but they are all the more 
abundant in the Yucatan collection, where the petticoats, as m the 
Dresden codex, usually reach to the ankles (see plate xlv, number 1). 

DRESS or THE UPPER PART OF THE BODY 

For men. As a rule, in the manuscripts, the upper part of the 
body is bare, while elaborate necklaces with broad ornaments cover- 
in<r the breast occur, which in the drawings sometimes make the trunk 



SCHELLHAS] DEESS OF UPPER PART OF BODY 611 

look almost as if it were dressed. Tlie cloak fastened on the shoulder, 
described by Landa, if we judge from the representations, can by no 
means have formed a part of the regular dress. A cloak of this kind 
is found, it is true, of similar shape to that which occurs in the Mexi- 
can manuscripts, but rarely, and then only on persons who evidently 
wear a costume jjeculiar to a certain privileged class. The same can 
be said regarding the figures in the Yucatan collection and in repre- 
sentations on the reliefs. The trunk is nude in far the greater num- 
ber of instances. Moreover, the cloaks occurring in the manuscripts 
do not wholly correspond with the one described by Landa. They 
are not square (as they usually are in the Mexican manuscripts), but 
apparently oval, and are not fastened at the slioulder, but at the neck, 
either in front or behind, so that the mantle falls either over the back 
or over the breast. In Codex Troano-Cortesianus the latter is inva- 
riably the case (see 6, figure 123, from the Dresden codex, page 25, 
below ; c, figure 123, from the Dresden codex, page 27, below ; d, figure 
123, Troano codex, page 16*, middle, compare pages 15* to 17% same 
place) . 

These cloaks, like the women's petticoats, are almost always adorned 
with gay patterns, which are reproduced in the rej^re'sentations. It 
is also characteristic of them that the hem is almost always edged with 
fringe, which in the more valuable cloaks possibly consisted of 
feathers.'^ 

Strange to say, these cloaks do not occur at all on the Yucatec 
reliefs. Nor are they to be recognized in representations from other 
Central American ruined cities. We find articles of dress for the 
upper part of the body, but usually of quite another, often unrecog- 
nizable, shape. 

What has been said above of the occurrence of cloaklike garments 
in the manuscripts holds good in the clay figures of the Yucatan col- 
lection. They are always an appurtenance of the dress belonging to 
a special rank. The collection contains several very remarkable ex- 
amples of such, which clitfer in man}^ respects from anything that we 
are accustomed to see on the reliefs or in the manuscripts. We have 
already alluded to the beautifully executed figure of a priest whose 
upper body is covered with a complete shirt (or jacket) with sleeves 
which apparently consists of feather work. Two other figures in the. 
collection (see plate xlv, numbers 4 and 6) are still more striking. 
Both have a capelike garment, which, beginning at the throat, covers 
the arms and trunk. While we may j^erhaps still doubt, in regard 

" It is possible ttiat tliis article of dress is identical with the cotton cloths mentioned 
by Cogolludo (Historia de Yucatan), called " tilmas ", or " hayates ", which were used 
as covers at night and as cloaks by day. The description, according to which the latter 
were richly ornamented and adorned with various colors, corresponds vei'y well with 
the representations in the codices. On the other hand, this idea is contradicted by 
the fact that such mantles are represented so seldom and apparently only as garments 
of state at religious ceremonies. 



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[bull. 28 



to the above-mentioned figure of a priest, whether the costume is 
indeed of feather Avork or, possibly, of separate strips of cotton which 
are sewn together and lap over one another, any such doubt is pre- 
cluded here by the fact that the feathers are indicated with perfect 
distinctness on one of these figures, by outlines like those of «, fig- 
ure 124. 

It is highly probable that these figures also represent priests, but 
nothing analogous either to them or to the figure first mentioned is to 
be found in the manuscripts or on the reliefs. 

Certain sitting figures in the same collection are equally remark- 
able. The trunk is covered by a mantle without any ornament, 
which leaves the upper part of the chest bare, and apparently con- 
sists of nothing else but a large round covering with a hole in the mid- 
dle through which to put the head (plate xlv, number 3), a rather 
primitivelirticle of dress, which, however, in the sitting figures shows 
a strong resemblance to the accompanying illustrations from the man- 
uscripts (c and d, figure 123) . It is possible that the singular form of 




Fig. 124. Figures showing dress, feather work, and necklaces. 

this article of dress is only the result of a lack of artistic skill in the 
maker of these figures, and that it really represents one of those 
cloaks so frequently found in the Maya manu-scripts and the Mexican 
codices. Andagova speaks of a similar article of dress m Nicaragua 
(in Navarrete's^Coleccion de los viages, etc.). He describes it as a 
sort of cape with a hole for the head, which covered the breast as 

well as the upper arm. ■ i r- 

Otherwise,^ the upper part of the body is nude as a rule m the fig- 
ures of the collection as well as in the manuscripts. 

For women. AVliile Landa states that in many parts of 1 ucatan 
the women wore an upper garment which covered the breast or a 
kind of jacket which was fastened at the v.aist by a girdle there is 
not a single female figure to be found in any of the manuscripts with 
the upper part of the body covered," and even the blanket which, 
according to Landa, the women used to sleep under, and carried over 
the shoulder when traveling, is nowhere to be seen. This fact is 



-^Compare the figures Troano codex, pv 1-^* and IG*, middle (men vvith mantles Kv.-ith 
the flgures, pp. 18*, 19*, and 20*, middle (women with skii-ts, without upper garments). 



SCHELLHAS] NECKLACES, COLLARS, AND EAR ORNAMENTS 613 

all the more surprising because an upper garment is by no means 
unusual among women in the Mexican manuscripts (see 6, figure 
124, Mendoza codex, page 69, for a jacket answering to Landa's 
description). 

Nor do we find anything in the Yucatan collection which corre- 
sponds to Landa's account. No actual garment for the upper part 
of the body occurs here; there is only an occasional skirt, which 
comes just up to the breasts, but leaves them free. Nor do we find 
anj^thing of the kind on the Yucatan reliefs, while a mantillalike 
garment occurs in the representations at Palenque, with the well- 
known pattern of crossed lines («, figure 123) repeated so often in 
the Avomen's dress seen in representations at that place and at Copan. 
A peculiar article of dress, seen scarcely anywhere else, is worn by 
the female figures on the well-known relief of the Cross and the sim- 
ilar one in casa number 3 (after Stephens) at Palenque. It covers 
the whole body from the throat almost down to the knees, but is 
otherwise difficult to define. Knotted and twisted portions of this 
garment seem to hang down on all sides. It is probably a garment 
of especially solemn character, only to be worn at religious cere- 
monies. 

NECKLACES, COLLARS, AND EAR ORNAMENTS 

This kind of apparel and ornament was, next to the head ornament, 
the most popular and manifold throughout the whole civilized region 
of Central America. Here again we find great similarity among the 
various antiquities. 

Bead necklaces are very characteristic of the Yucatan representa- 
tions of every variety, and this fact is all the more noteworthy 
because these neck ornaments of chains or beads are rare in the 
Mexican codices. In the Maya codices, among the reliefs, and on the 
clay images from Yucatan, almost without exception, Ave find on the 
contrary, strings of beads in the most elaborate and varied shapes. 
There seems to have been no Maya who did not possess such an orna- 
ment. Strange to say, Bishop Landa makes no allusion to this fact, 
while, judging from the antique remains, and especially from the 
manuscripts, w^e should expect that this ornament of all others would 
have struck him and Avould have been described by him. 

The forms of these necklaces in the manuscripts very generally 
resemble those worn by the figures of the Yucatan collection. There 
is often a medal-shaped middle piece upon the chain, which lies on 
the breast. The simple form shown in c, figure 124, Avhich appears 
in all the manuscripts, is most frequent in the collection. In the 
Troano and Cortesian codices this simple form is found almost exclu- 
sively (see &, fZ, and ^, figure 120). 

In the Dresden manuscript, on the contrary, A^ery elaborate and 
varied forms are common, and aa-c almost invariably find the above- 



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[BULL. 28 



mentioned tassel or locketlike middle piece with an additional orna- 
ment terminating in three ends, and a peculiar clasp behind (see c^,. 
figure 124, from the Dresden codex, page 10, middle, and e, page 15, 
below). 

While this neck ornament is common in the Dresden codex, it occurs 
but seldom in the other manuscripts (see «, figure 125, from the 
Troano codex, page 18 *, middle, h, figure 125, from Codex Cortesianus, 




k I n 

Pig. 12.5. Necklaces, ear ornaments, and so-called elephant trunk. 

page 12, below," also examples in Codex Peresianus, pages 17, 21, 
and elsewhere). 



« The head of this figure is particularlj' interesting, because it explains the remarkable 
ornament occurring so often on Yucatec buildings, the much discussed so-called "elephant's 
trunk". Close examination of this ornament shows that nlmost invariably the features 
of a face, rudely executed in flourishes, are to be recognized on the surface of the wall 
behind it. If we compare this ornament with the above copy from the Codex Cor- 
tesianus, there can hardly be a doubt that it represents the face of the god B (see my 
Gottergestalten der Mayahandschriften. p. 12) with the well-known big nose. The nose 
has exactly the same shape and decoration on the buildings as on the figure in the manu- 
scripts (see ?, fig. 12.^, the form of this ornament). There is not the least occasion for 
fanciful zoological speculations. 



SCHELLHAS] NECKLACES, COLLARS, AND EAR ORNAMENTS G15 

This kind of ornament ^Yas worn indiscriminately By men and 
women. The badges of certain priests or officials seem sometimes to 
have been used upon the tassels, as in the Dresden codex we find one 
on the figure of the death god, or his priestly representative, with the 
sign of death (^, figure 115, cimi; Dresden codex, pages 9, above, 10, 
above, and 15, middle) . 

In the Yucatan collection we have on various images the forms 
shown in c, 6?, and e, figure 125, of which the last is a particularly 
elaborate specimen, showing a medal similar to those in the manu- 
scripts. 

Instead of the chain tnc sometimes find (very seldom in the manu- 
scripts) a sort of ribbon to which a tassel or medal is attached, as 
in g (Dresden codex, page 28, above). 

The same thing occurs in the figures in the collection (see A, z", ^•). 

Still greater points of resemblance occur in the ear ornaments, 
which often seem to have been combined with the necklaces. In the 
manuscripts, as on the Yucatec clay figures, a ring-shaped ornament 
is the rule. '\ATiile among the latter it is often very simple (see in 
and r<), in the codices it usually assumes a more complicated form. 
Almost all the figures show either one or the other of the two forms, 
which are given in a and &, or in (?, d^ and e, figure 126. The former 
is the rule in the Codex Troano-Cortesianus," the latter in the Dresden 
codex. The latter form is not infrequently directly combined with 
the necklace and occurs after the same fashion on the clay figures: 
certainly a very noteworthy fact, for these neck ornaments are entirely 
wanting in the Mexican manuscripts. Compare the example from 
the collection (/, figure 126). The resemblance is evident and indu- 
bitable. 

While in the Mexican codices collars prevail, in the Maya manti- 
scripts, as we have said, necklaces are predominant. But collars 
occur also, in fact feather collars of the selfsame form that we find 
on the often-mentioned figure of a priest from the Yucatan collection 
(plate XLV, number 5), a stiff round collar of feathers standing out 
from the neck (see A, figure 126, Codex Cortesianus, page 32, above; 
«', Dresden codex, page 20, above; ^, Troano codex, page 34; Codex 
Peresianus, page 15, and others having the form of this ornament on 
the figure of the priest, l^'). Similar collars are very frequently 
found in the Maya codices on the figure of the death god, and where 
such a collar occurs the necklace found everywhere else is absent. 

As a general thing these collars are infrequent. They seem to have 
been no everyday article of attire. A few variations occur in the 
manuscripts, for instance, in m (Dresden codex, page 10, below) and n 
(Troano codex, page 31, middle). 

" It also appears on the heads in the glyphic writing, as, for Instance, in the inscrip- 
tion on a pottery vessel in the Yucatan collection ig, fig-. 126). 

'' Strange to say, this figure wears no ear ornament. The collar is half hroken off. 



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[BULL. 28 



Lastly, we have a peculiar ornament in a picture of the death 
god, 0, in the Dresden manuscript, page 10, above. 

It seems to be a necklace of feather work, from which hangs the 



n/^ 



a h c 





Fig. 126. Ear ornaments and collars. 



sign of the death god, cimi. The figure is also interesting because it 
distinctlv shows us how the ear ornaments represented above (c. d, e, 




a h 

Fig. 127. Ear ornament and s.vml)ol. 



and /) are fastened in the ear, which is usually drawn disproportion- 
ately large in the codices (see a, figure 127)." 

« The ear occurs in the text as a glyph in the form of h, fig. 127. Compare the repre- 
sentations of the act of piercing the ear in the Troano codex, p. 18, above. 



SCHELLHASJ 



HEADDRESS 617 



In the Yucatec reliefs, on the contrary, we have quite different 
styles of collars, which have little resemblance to those of the manu- 
scripts and the clay figures. They are usually far more elaborate 
and larger, and cover the shoulders like a shawl ; they therefore seem 
to have consisted of some softer material than those represented above. 
On the other hand, necklaces are very unusual on the reliefs, while 
they appear more frequently on the figures from Palenque, and here, 
too, in familiar forms, as, for instance, with the addition of the 
locket-shaped middle piece. Generally speaking, the representations 
in the Yucatec reliefs exhibit a strikingly different type in this 
respect, as in many" others. 

HEADDRESS 

The overloaded headdress, often most fantastically exaggerated 
and scarcely recognizable as such, is a characteristic feature of Cen- 
tral American representations. These headdresses are most colossal 
in the Yucatec reliefs, where they often develop into architectural 
ornaments pure and simple. Spanish authors record the fact that the 
ancient Mayas paid great attention to the fashion of wearing the hair. 
Bishop Landa says in chapter 20 of his Relacion : " They wore their 
hair long, like women. On the top they burnt a sort of large tonsure ; 
they let the hair grow around it, while the hair of the tonsure 
remained short. They bound the hair in braids about the head with 
the exception of one lock, which they allowed to hang down behind 
like a tassel ". 

"All the authorities agree", adds Bancroft (Native Races, volume 
2) , " that the priests in Yucatan wore the hair long, uncombed, and 
often saturated with sacrificial blood. Plumes of feathers seem to 
have been their usual headdress ". 

Here, too, we can onW accept Landa's description with many reser- 
vations and as a very general characterization of the stjde of hair- 
dressing when we compare this description with the existing antiqui- 
ties. Among the latter, the various styles of ornamenting and cover- 
ing the head and dressing the hair are so extremely numerous, and 
Ave find such manifold forms and fashions, that an exhaustive 
description of them would be an extensive work in itself. "\Ye 
must definitely accept the view that differences of rank in Yucatan 
found especial expression in the mode of dressing and ornamenting 
the hair, for only thus can we explain the countless different forms. 
Warriors and priests or persons of high rank and people of the lower 
class were, most probably, chiefly distinguished from each othei- by the 
style of wearing the hair. The rest of the dress was suitable to the 
climate, usually simple, and thus the favorite and carefully treated 
headdress afforded an opportunity for every kind of particularity. 

We shall touch only upon the most important points of the ex- 
tremely rich material before us. The hair partly bound about the 



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[bull. 28 



head, partl}^ hanging down long behind, as Landa describes it, is 
indeed not infrequently seen (compare «, figure 128, Codex Cor- 
tesianus, page 33, above, and &, figure 128, same place, 36, below, with 
c from the Yucatan collection). However, in most cases the head 
ornament is much more elaborate. We constantly find, as here, the 
hair bound up above on the head and surrounded with ornaments 




I m n o 

Fig. 128. Headdresses, from Maya codices and monuments. 

and feathers, while it hangs down long behind, intertwined with 
feathers and ribbons. 

A headdress consisting of a sort of bow or knot is most common 
in the manuscripts {d, Dresden codex, page 68, and e and /, Codex 
Cortesianus, page 11). Strange to say, it does not occur elsewhere, 
either among the reliefs or the clay figures ; another striking pecul- 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



BULLETIN 28 PLATE XLVI 





HEADDRESSES FROM THE CODICES AND MONUMENTS 



SCHELLHAS ] HEADDRESS 619 

iarity of the four Ma^^a codices.'^ There are otherwise, however, 
many resemblances in the forms of hair-dressing between the manu- 
scripts and the figures in the collection. Thus the headdress from the 
Dresden manuscript on page 19 above, ^, is repeated exactly in a 
figure of the collection ;^ «', front view ; h^ side view. 

A headdress very common in the Dresden manuscript is shown in 
Z, page 27, and m, page 28, below. Compare also g and /i, figure 120, 
and h and c, figure 123. '^ It has also an analogue in the Yucatan col- 
lection; compare n and o and the often-mentioned figure of a priest 
(plate XLV, number 5). These are only single instances, chosen at 
random ; the forms are, as we have said, so multifarious that but very 
few obvious resemblances can be established. I]i the Yucatec reliefs 
the headdresses usually have enormous feathers, which hang down 
before and behind, showing a certain resemblance to many of the 
representations in the manuscripts, which, however, lies rather in the 
total effect than in separate details. The Palenque reliefs also show 
similar feather ornaments, but far simpler and more in accordance 
Avith reality than the Yucatec reliefs. 

We may also mention what Avas undoubtedly the headdress of a 
warrior,*^ which we find in the Mexican manuscripts as well as in the 
Maya codices and on the clay figures. In the first of these it takes the 
form of a and &, plate xlvi ( from the Mendoza codex) . Compare with 
this, G (Dresden codex, page 60) and the head from a figure in the 
collection, d. 

The headdress of the women is generally simpler than that of the 
men. The elaborate feather decoration is missing on them in the 
manuscripts, and in its place we have the hair itself arranged in 
long strands, which fall partly over the breast, partly over the back ; 
e shows this arrangement of the hair that is peculiar to women, the 
most distinctlj^ recognizable one in the Dresden manuscript. 

Besides this, however, we have another form, in which the hair is 
arranged on each side of the head in loops having the shape of the 
figure 8. This arrangement of the hair occurs in all the Maya 
manuscripts and on the clay images of the Yucatan collection. The 
Mexican manuscripts also show us a similar puffing of the hair on 
each side of the head, which Spanish authors mention as prevalent 

" See, however, the headdress so common in the Bodley codex, fig. 125. The Bodley 
codex liears a strong resemlilance to Codex Troano-Cortesianiis, so far as the representa- 
tions are concerned. 

'' It is the figure with the singular facial decoration that has already been mentioned 
above. 

<^ The similarity of this head covering with one common in the Egyptian representation, 
that with the Urseus serpent, is startling, and yet it is entirely fortuitous. 

'' Compare in regard to this headdress in use among the Aztecs, the comprehensive 
worli: : Das Prachtstiick altmexikanischer Federarbeit aus der Zeit Montezumas im Wiener 
Museum, by Zelia Nuttall (in d. Abhandlungen u. Bericht. d. K. Zool. u. Anthrop.-Ethnogr. 
Museums, z. Dresden, n. 7, 1887). . 



520 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

in ancient Mexico. Compare the Mexican female figure above, 5, 
fio-nre 124, also some Mexican clay images in the Berlin Museum, which 
have the same style of hair-dressing as / and g, plate xlvi (Troano 
codex, page 24), A (Codex Cortesianus, page 35), i (Dresden codex, 
page 16), from the Maya manuscripts, and lastly, the two styles of 
wearing the hair of clay images in the Yucatan collection, represented 
in k and plate xlv, number 2. 

Utensils and Kindred Objects 

In conclusion, we will select a few specimens from the numerous 
representations of household utensils, Aveapons, vessels, and other 
objects portrayed in connection with the human figure. Any closer 
inquiry into these objects would far exceed the limits of the present 
article. The weapons, which are not uncommon in the codices, have 
many points of resemblance with those represented in the Mexican 
manuscripts ; none are apparently to be found among the clay figures. 
The Mexican sword with obsidian splinters (maquahuitl) was also 
used in Yucatan, together with the small ax, which Landa describes, 
and of which he furnishes an illustration.'^ The sword is represented 
on a relief at Kabah. 

The clay vessels found in the Yucatan collection are of the same 
general shape as those in the Maya codices. Compare the specimens 
a, c, and e, plate xlvii (from the Dresden codex), with &, d, and / 
(from the Yucatan collection). 

So, too, a peculiar kind of tall, slender vessel, which usually appears 
in the manuscripts in connection with sacrificial rites (see particu- 
larly Dresden codex, pages 25 to 28), is found in its characteristic 
form in the Yucatan collection. Compare g (from the Dresden codex, 
pages 26 and 27; Codex Cortesianus, pages G*, T=^ 40, and elsewhere) 
with the vessels, A, from the collection, which may therefore be re- 
garded with certainty as sacrificial vessels. 

Fans, which are not uncommon in the Mexican codices, occur also 
in the Maya manuscripts, and a clay image in the Yucatan collection 
holds a similar object in its hand, i (compare the Mexican fan. A-). 
Similar forms are found in the Maya manuscripts (see 7, from the 
Dresden codex, pages 25 to 28, above, and m, from the Troano codex, 
page 35, above). Another figure in the Yucatan collection has an 
object in the left hand of the shape represented in n. The repre- 
sentations of women weaving in the Troano codex, page 11*, show 
us that this article is a Aveaver's shuttle. There it has the form of 
figure 129.^ 



« It has the same shape as in the manuscripts. 

'• Under this l-ieading also belongs the Mexican spear thrower, the atlatl. found in vari- 
ous forms in the codices, which recently has been found in a variety of forms in the 
codices by Doctor Seler and Mrs Nuttall, who is about to issue a searching study of the 
subject as one of the publications of the Pealwdy Museum. 



schellhas] conclusions 621 

Conclusions 

The results of this comparative study, which by no means exhausts 
the subject, and is only intended to emphasize the chief points suffi- 
cientl}^ for the present purpose, are in many respects striking. One of 
the principal conclusions is : There is no sing-le, uniform type among 
what is known as the Maya antiquities. The manuscripts form an 
independent group, the relief representations from the ruined cities 
of Yucatan a second, the clay images a third. Remains of the differ- 
ent groups are alike in many particulars, but not so much as if all the 
material sprang from a common source. The architectural remain-s 
in Yucatan must naturall}^ be regarded as having undoubtedly origi- 
nated with the ancient inhabitants of Mayapan. We have, however, 
already shown that even Bishop Lancia did not consider it superfluous 
to furnish proofs that these ancient inhabitants were ethnologically 
identical with the inhabitants of Yucatan at the time of the conquest. 
And these very architectural remains bear a most striking resem- 
blance, especially in the bas-reliefs, to Mexican antiquities, such as we 
do not find, at least not to the same extent, in the Maya manuscripts 
and in the clay figures. On the other hand, the type of the represen- 



FiG. 129. A weaver's shuttle, from Yucatan. 

tations in the codices and of the clay figures agrees far better with that 
found in the antiquities of Palenque and Copan; but even here the 
differences are still too great to establish a belief in a common origin- 
It is evident that very divergent influences have been at work in the 
ancient culture area of Central America. Especially are traces of 
the influence of Mexican races, as,, for instance, the Aztecs, plainly 
perceptible in Yucatan proper. Intercourse and commercial rela- 
tions did exist between the Aztecs and the Mayas. Side by side with 
this influence emanating from the races on the northwest border, we 
also find another factor of civilization whose origin w^e may seek to 
the south of the peninsula of Yucatan. It seems to be the genuine, 
aboriginal source of Central American civilization, which reached its 
highest ilevelopment among the Maya races. In contrast to the stifl, 
angular, conventional type of Mexican art products, we find, the 
farther we pursue this factor of civilization, softer, more graceful, 
and at the same time more realistic forms. Among the antiquities 
wdiich show this influence are the remains at Copan and Palenque, 
the Maj^a codices, and a great part of the clay figures in the Yucatan 
collection. All these facts point to a region south of the Yucatan 



622 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

peninsula as the true center of Central American civilization. There 
the origin of American glyphic writing is doubtless to be sought; 
there lie the roots of that ancient culture. 

It is difficult to conjecture what race may have been the bearer of 
this civilization. * The evidence points to its having been a branch of 
the Mayas. In Landa's time the flower of that ancient civilization 
was evidently long past ; no trace of the earlier vigorous development 
remained; the old intellectual activity manifested itself but feebly; 
opposition to foreign influences was therefore extremely weak. Even 
then, according to the statements of Spanish authors, certain build- 
ings in Yucatan already wore an air of belonging to a bygone time ; 
some were probably even then deserted and buried in the primeval 
forest. There is hardly a doubt that even at the time of the conquest 
ruined cities existed south of Yucatan, in Guatemala and Chiapas, 
as they do to-day. Long before the coming of the Spaniards abo- 
riginal civilization must have reached its highest point in that region, 
within a square approximately bounded by the fourteenth and eight- 
eenth degrees of latitude and the eighty-eighth and ninety-second 
degrees of longitude. It is doubtful whether all the so-called Maya 
antiquities originated among the Mayas of Yucatan. The manu- 
scripts perhaps came from the region indicated above (Tzental?), 
and undoubtedly also a large part of the antiquities in the Berlin 
Museum of Ethnology. They can scarcely have originated in 
northern Yucatan. They are evidences and relics of the influence 
of a higher civilization which flourished long before in the south.° 

" Since the publication of this paper in 1890 important advances have been made in 
the field of Maya research. These are known to the specialists in Americanist lore. 
Nevertheless, these comparative studies may still prove to be of value to-day in their 
general results to the investigator because, although these general results themselves 
have as a whole been controverted or called in question, they have not been materially 
modified by later investigations. The main purpose of the foregoing essay, which was to 
present a comparative survey of the details of the Maya antiquities, will be fulfilled even 
to-day, so much the more since there has unfortunately been no augmentation of material 
worth mentioning, certainly no new discovery of antiquities that can alter essentially 
the results reached then. P. Schellhas, Berlin, February, 1905. 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 




BULLETIN 28 PLATE XLVII 









MEXICAN AND MAYA HOUSEHOLD UTENSILS 



INDEPENDENT INDIAN STATES OF 
YUCATAN 



KARL SAPPER 



623 



INDEPENDENT INDIAN STATES OF 

YUCATAN'' 



By Karl Sapper 



It is a well-known fact that the conquest of Yucatan offered the 
Spaniards great difficulties and that the adelantado Don Francisco de 
Montejo, although he fully understood the art of craftily turning the 
dissensions among the different Indian states to his own advantage, at 
length found himself forced to call on Ferdinand Cortes for aid. 
After the conquest of the peninsula Avas finally accomplished the 
Indians rose here and there to regain their freedom. The Spaniards 
suppressed the insurrections with brutal force, but could never dispel 
the hatred toward their w^hite oppressors which, even to this day, 
smolders in the hearts of the Mayas and manifests itself from time 
to time in a renewal of bloody insurrections, like those which took 
place in the middle of the last and of the present century (1761 and 
1847). The latter rebellion has had a lasting influence on the polit- 
ical development of the peninsula, and furnishes a key to the compre- 
hension of the peculiar conditions which exist to-day. For this 
reason I will enter into a somewhat detailed discussion of them here. 

The movement began among the eastern tribes, who Avere soon 
joined by those of the south; a large number of villages were 
destroyed, and in the year 1848 Bacalar,'^ the last important place of 
the Mexicans in southern Yucatan, at that time a city of more than 
5,000 inhabitants, also fell into the hands of the eastern Indians under 
Venancio Pec, Juan Pablo Cocom, Teodoro Villanueva, and others. 
In the following year (May 3, 1849) the Yucatecos, under Colonel 
Zetina, succeeded indeed in regaining possession of the city, but in 
June of the same j^ear the eastern Indians, under Jacinto Pat, rein- 
forced by the southern Mayas of Chichanha, under Jose Maria Tzuc, 
made another vigorous attack on Bacalar, and were repulsed only 
with difficulty. The siege lasted for years, and was only interrupted 
when the Mexican garrison received large reenforcements. 



" Globus. V. G7, n. 13. 

" Bacalar, originally called Bakhalal, was founded in 1545 by Don Melclior Pacheco. 
Concerning the history of this place see the article " Bacalar " in The Angelus, Belis^e, 
V. 9, 1893, pp. 48 and following. 

7238— No. 28—05 40 625 



526 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

It was not until Gen Don Romiilo Diaz de la Vega assumed com- 
mand in Yucatan that the Avar was carried on with greater energy 
by the Mexicans. This general marched by way of Chan Santa Cruz, 
the " sacred city " of the eastern Indians, to Bacalar, where he arrived 
on March 1, 1852. The southern Indians, whom the Mexicans had 
defeated, now offered to negotiate for peace with the Yucatecos, 
which enraged the eastern Mayas, who turned against them, unex- 
pectedly attacked their principal town, Chichanha, and almost 
entirely destroyed it. But soon afterward (July, 1852) Diaz de la 
Vega surprised the principal town of the eastern Indians, Chan Santa 
Cruz, which had been fortified in the meantime, and in this engage- 
ment the dreaded chief, Venancio Pec, and his adjutant, Juan 
Bautista Yam, fell. The Mexicans, however, were not able to achieve 
a permanent victory over the eastern Mayas, to whom, in the year 
1858, they finally lost Bacalar, which has now become an important 
base of operations and rallying point for these Indians. In 1871° the 
Mexicans made another armed incursion into the territory of the 
eastern tribes, again captured their principal city, Chan Santa Cruz, 
and again withdrew without the slightest permanent success. After 
the withdrawal of the Mexican troops the Indians quietly returned to 
their former habitations, and occupy to-day the same territory that 
they formerly occupied. From time to time they make predatory 
expeditions into the Mexican territory of Yucatan or Into the terri- 
tories of the southern tribes ; but their military operations no longer 
aim at great enterprises, and seem to be directed only to the occa- 
sional acquisition of rich booty. 

Thus, while the eastern tribes have stood uninterruptedlj^ on a war 
footing with the Mexican Government since the year 1847, the chiefs 
of the southern tribes, Jose Maria Tzuz, Andres Tzima, and Juan 
Jose Cal, concluded a treaty of peace as early as 1853 with the Mexi- 
can agents. Doctor Canton, Colonel Lopez, and P. Peralta, through 
the instrumentality of the English superintendent at Belize, Ph. Ed. 
Woodhouse, the conditions of which were recorded in both the Span- 
ish and Maya languages. Unfortunately, I have not been able to 
examine the terms of this treaty ; but the conditions actually existing 
indicate that full independence in the conduct of their internal affairs 
(civil and judicial administration, etc.) was guaranteed to the In- 
dians, while the latter formally recognized the suzerainty of Mexico, 
and their caciques have to be confirmed by the Mexican Government, 
that is, the gobernador of the state of Campeche. 

The southern tribes are divided into two distinct states, whose 
chief towns at present are Ixkanha, in central Yucatan, and Icaiche, 
in southern Yucatan. Both states, in the main, have faithfully kept 

" See A. Woeikof, Reise durch Yucatan und die stid-ostlichen Provinzen von Mexiko in 
Petermanns Mitteilungen, 1879, v. 25, p. 203. 



SAPPEE] INDEPENDENT INDIAN STATES OF YUCATAN 627 

their treaty with Mexico, but in 1869 Mexican troops were ol)lige(l to 
enter the district of Ixkanha to suppress an insurrection of the 
Indians under General Arana, the brother of Gen Eugenio Arana, 
now in office. On the other hand, both states have had to repel occa- 
sional incursions of the eastern Mayas, Avho have been hostile since 
the conclusion of peace in 1853, and thus the southern Indians have 
served as a bulwark and outpost, as it were, for that portion of the 
state of Canipeche which is under Mexican authority. 

Among the Icaiche Indians, who retreated farther southward 
after the destruction of Chichanha, the warlike spirit once roused 
would not be quieted, and manifested itself in numerous raids into 
the territory of British Honduras, where at one time the Indians 
advanced as far as the neighborhood of the city of Belize." In 1868 
the Icaiche Indians, under their leaders Marcos Canul and Eafael 
Chan, occupied the city of Corozal, but withdrew through fear of 
the Santa Cruz Indians ; and in 1872 the warlike Gen Marcos Canul 
attacked the city of Orange AValk, but was fatally wounded dur- 
ing the siege b}^ a Swiss named Oswald ; whereupon the Indians 
Avithdrew. The British Government complained to the Mexican 
Government of the repeated Indian invasions, and when the Mexi- 
cans explained that the Icaiche Indians were not under Mexican 
authority, but were an independent tribe, the English pointed out 
that the leaders of the Indians were Mexican generals. The pro- 
test, however, was not followed up, since the Icaiche Indians made no 
more raids into British territory after Canul's death, neither under 
Rafael Chan, Canul's successor, nor under the excellent Santiago 
Pech, nor under the present cacique, Gen Gabriel Tamaj^ At pres- 
ent, indeed, great warlike enterprises on the part of the Icaiche 
Indians are quite inconceivable, for their number has been continually 
reduced by war, rum, aud pestilence, and in the year 1892 virulent 
smallpox and whooping-cough epidemics swept away about half of 
their number, so that now the entire population of the once feared 
independent Indian state can be estimated at only about 500 souls. 
Nevertheless, in Icaiche, a few Indians are ahvays stationed as sen- 
dnels in a special hut called the cuartel ("barracks"), and in the 
house in which I lived during my residence there five loaded repeat- 
ing rifles hung on the crossbeams of the roof, a sign that the Icaiche 
Indians are always on their guard against the Santa Cruz Indians, 
who, in fact, a short time before (during the rule of General Tamay) 
had made an unsuccessful attack upon the village. 

In Ixkanha there are a larger number of soldiers on guard, day 
and night, in the barracks, under the command of a captain, and 
although they do not wear a uniform any more than do the Indians 
of Icaiche, they are a somewhat nearer approach to disciplined 

« See, respecting these Indian raids, A. R. Gibbs, Britisli Honduras, London, 1883. 



(328 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

military, inasmuch as they use drum and trumpet calls, etc. In 
the district of Ixkanha the population has also diminished, compared 
with its former number, esj)ecially through smallpox epidemics and 
owing to an utter lack of good medical aid, and a few years ago Gen 
Eugenio Arana ceded the important village of Chunchintok to the 
state of Campeche. Nevertheless, the population of the independent 
territory of Ixkanha is probably about 8,000. 

At the beginning of the rebellion the population of the Santa Cruz 
territory was stated to be about 40,000; but since then the number 
has also greatly diminished, and is estimated by those familiar with 
the country at 8,000 or 10,000 souls. Indeed, it seems as if the depop- 
ulation of the forest regions of the peninsula (eastern and southern 
Yucatan) were constantly progressing, although it is probable that 
even before the conquest these regions were more scantily populated 
than the drier and more salubrious districts in western and northern 
Yucatan. The population of Chan Santa Cruz is chiefly confined to 
the strip of territory between lake Bacalar and Ascension bay, for 
the fierce and long wars have resulted in an ever-increasing concen- 
tration of population on the part of the eastern Indians and also on 
that of their enemies, in consequence of which uninhabited tracts of 
land lie between the two factions, in which the former roads have 
been rapidly overgrown and rendered impassable by the luxuriant 
forest vegetation. Even though Indians can use these overgrown 
roads in case of need in single file, the Santa Cruz Indians will 
always be obliged to open new roads for incursions on a larger scale, 
which will serve to Avarn the inhabitants of the threatened district 
well in advance. 

The state of civilization of the independent Mayas is Ioav. There is 
no educational system at all, and although for Ixkanha, which is 
probably more directly dependent on Campeche than Icaiche, owing 
to its closer proximity to it, the position of schoolmaster is provided 
for in the state budget of Campeche, nothing is gained by it, since no 
candidate ever applies for the position. Maya is exclusively the lan- 
guage of common intercourse, and in each of the three independent 
districts the clerk who is appointed by the general as secretary and 
interpreter is the only man in the state who speaks Spanish well and 
can also read and write a little. In ecclesiastic matters the Mayas 
of Santa Cruz are dependent upon Corozal, those of Icaiche upon 
Orange \¥alk, and those of Ixkanha upon the neighboring villages of 
Campeche. In Ixkanha, it is true, I saw in the church a smoothly 
shaven Indian, not otherwise distinguished from his fellows, who, 
morning and evening, conducted religious services, consisting largely 
of song, in the Maya tongue; but he was evidently not a genuine 
priest. 



SAPPEitJ INDEPENDENT INDIAN STATES OF YUCATAN 629 

The public and private buildings of the independent Mayas, with- 
out exception, are thatched, wooden huts, such as are customary else- 
where among the Indian inhabitants of the peninsula. The houses 
of sun-dried brick or stone which existed before the rebellion are 
either destroyed or have fallen to ruins, and in Santa Clara Tcaiche, 
for example, only the numerous foundation walls and cellars still 
recall their former existence. 

The dress, mode of life, and occupations of the independent Mayas 
are very simple, and in this respect the general is in no wise distin- 
guished from his subjects, except that he keeps saddle horses in 
accordance with his greater wealth. 

In dress the independent Indians scarcely differ from the rest of 
the Mayas. The women wear a white cotton skirt and a white guipil 
of the same material reaching to the knees, which is often orna- 
mented with red embroidery around the hem and the neck of the 
bodice. The hair is gathered in a knot at the back of the head. Their 
ornaments are large gold earrings, while necklaces, so popular among 
the Indian women elsewhere, are seldom worn here. The men wear 
white cotton trousers and shirts, straw hats, and sandals, which are 
fastened to the feet with cords. The Indians cultivate the more 
important plants for food, luxury, and textile fibers; raise cattle, 
swine, and poultry; spin and weave their clothing and braid their 
straw hats and hammocks, etc., so that they are obliged to import 
comparatively few articles, only arms, ammunition, salt, ornaments, 
and the like. The products of the chase are of great importance 
to the household of the Indians of Icaiche and Santa Cruz, who live 
in the forest regions. ' The chase is of less importance to the Mayas 
of Ixkanha, who live in the region of the dry brush-covered plains, 
and border only on the south and east on the region of unbroken pri- 
meval forests. 

A few English have settled in the district of Chan Santa Cruz, and 
a few English and Yucatecos in the district of Icaiche for the purpose 
of cutting mahogany and logwood. For every ton of wood that they 
export they pay a certain sum to the general of the district, and out of 
this income he meets the public expenses, such as the cost of arms 
and ammunition and the salary of the clerk. Any surplus remaining 
seems to belong to the general himself. There are no taxes or duties. 
As the Ixkanha district is nowhere contiguous either to the sea or to 
navigable rivers nor is intersected by highways, the logwood, Avhich 
is present in considerable quantities, can not be made marketable. On 
the other hand, the people collect a good deal of chicle, a kind of 
gnm obtained from the milky juice of the chicosapote. I do not 
know from what source the public revenues of Ixkanha are derived. 

The Indians of Santa Cruz trade chiefly with Corozal, the Mayas 
of Icaiche with Orange Walk, while the trade of the people of 



630 BTJEEATT OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

Ixkanha is chiefly with Campeche. A short time ago, it is true, Gen- 
eral Arana had a direct bridle path cut from Ixkanha, by way of Clu- 
chanha, to Santa Cruz on the Rio Hondo, and to Orange Walk, for the 
purpose of reviving the direct trade Avith the British colony and the 
once active carrying trade from there to Campeche ; but as this route 
passes near the territory of the Santa Cruz Indians and the trading 
caravans are therefore in danger of highway robbery, and as most of 
the imported wares are at present not appreciably cheaper in British 
Honduras than they are in Campeche, very active traffic on this road 
can not be expected. 

Commercial relations have a decided influence upon the monetary 
system of the independent Maya states. Since in British Hondm^as 
the small coins of Guatemala as well as Chilean and Peruvian silver 
dollars are mostly in circulation, these coins are also most in use in the 
districts of Santa Cruz and Icaiche. In the Ixkanha district, on the 
other hand, Mexican money is the only currency; but when some 
years ago the old fractional currency was discarded in the Republic 
of Mexico and a new one based on the decimal system was adopted, 
the Ixkanha Indians did not conform to the innovation, but con- 
tinued to use the Mexican and old Spanish medios and reals, which 
long ago had been withdrawn from circulation in Mexican territory. 

The office of cacique is not hereditary in any particular family, but 
at the death of the general the next below him in military rank, the 
commandant, advances to the position, while at the same time the 
senior captain is promoted to the rank of commandant, etc. During 
the absence of the general the commandant acts as his representative. 
The general has supreme command in war, and he fills the office of 
judge, for which reason the caciques of Ixkanha and Icaiche, when 
they are confirmed in office by the gobernador of Campeche, are as a 
matter of form officially appointed to the position of jefe politico and 
comandante de armas as well as to that of judge. Both generals use 
a stamp wdiich bears, besides the Mexican eagle, the inscription 
Pacificos del Sur, in accordance with the customary division of the 
independent Mayas of Yucatan into the Indios sublevados pacificos 
(" peaceful insurgents ") of Ixkanha and Icaiche, and the Indios 
sublevados bravos (" fighting insurgents ") of Chan Santa Cruz. 

The general seems to be in some measure answerable to the popu- 
lar assembly for liis actions, in so far as these do not directly relate to 
military matters or to his judicial office, as I think I may infer from 
some remarks made by the clerk of Icaiche. Even after General 
Tamay had given me permission to travel in his district I had to leave 
behind me in Icaiche a copy of the circular addressed to the authori- 
ties of the Republic which I had obtained from the ministry of the 
interior, so that the general could have in this document a justifica- 
tion of his actions before his fellow citizens, who had been called to 



SAPPER] INDEPENDENT INDIAN STATES OF YUCATAN 631 

meet in a popular assembly on the day after my departure, March 1, 
1894. If I had not come to Icaiche as an official of the Mexican 
Government, I should in all probability have been refused permission 
to pass through this territory. 

The general of the Santa Cruz Indians has, as I gather from my 
inquiries, the same authority as the chiefs of the Ixkanha and Icaiche 
Indians. On the whole, the conditions in the three independent 
Maya states are almost identical. 

Among the independent Mayas military service is compulsory; 
every man capable of bearing arms is obliged to perform military 
duty and is drafted for sentinel duty. The firearms in use are quite 
miscellaneous; modern repeating rifles are seen side by side with 
heavy old-fashioned muzzle-loading muskets. In general, the inde- 
pendent Mayas are considered good shots and courageous, efficient 
soldiers, skilled in the strategems of war. The Mayas who accom- 
panied me as guides through the interior of Yucatan always carried 
their shotguns on their shoulders, loaded and coclvcd, with percussion 
cap on, and usually with great promptness brought down the game 
Avhich crossed our path. 

■ The administration of justice is prompt and summary, but it is, I 
believe, very conscientious, in favorable contrast to the dragging, 
uncertain methods of Mexican courts. The accused is either set free 
or flogged or, in serious cases, among which, as I was assured, rape is 
reckoned, he is shot. There are no prisons and no punishment by 
imprisonment. 

The existing laws are strictly enforced. I myself experienced a 
slight proof of this, manifested in a logical, though somewhat petty, 
decision of the authorities. I had obtained in Icaiche three Mayas as 
guides and interpreters and had made a legal contract with them 
before the clerk of Icaiche, according to which they were to accom- 
]^>any me to Ixkanha, receiving in advance half of the pay agreed 
upon, the rest to be paid at Ixkanha. When we reached Ixkanha, the 
three Icaiche men voluntarily proposed that for a certain sum they 
should accompany me still farther to the railroad station, and that I 
should there pay them the whole amount. To this arrangement I 
agreed. The Indians of Icaiche and Ixkanha are compelled to have 
passports, and therefore my Icaiche men could not journey farther 
without the express permission of the Ixkanha authorities. As 
General Arana was absent, my guides had to transact their business 
with the commandant, the contract I have mentioned serving to prove 
their identity. After a while I was also summoned, and the com- 
mandant informed me through his interpreter that I had not fulfilled 
the contract, since the Icaiche Indians had not yet been paid. Al- 
though they did not in the least wish it, I nevertheless hastened to 
pay them, w^hile the commandant looked on attentively. He then 



632 BUREAU OP AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

informed me that a new contract might now be made. He conferred 
with the Icaiche Indians, communicated their conditions to me 
through his interpreter, and when I declared myself satisfied with 
them, the clerk was instructed to draw up the contract and to sign it 
" in the name of General Arana ", upon which the Icaiche Indians, 
after the proceedings had lasted about an hour, received permission to 
accompany me farther. Although the whole affair was of no impor- 
tance whatever, I was glad to observe how much trouble the com- 
mandant took to protect against possible fraud the Indians who on 
their part did not in the least distrust me, and how quietly and 
straight to the point the whole transaction Avas conducted. The mis- 
trust of foreigners is very easily explained Avhen one knows how fre- 
quently the Indians are defrauded and cheated of their stipulated 
pay b}^ the half-breed element of the population. 

As to the character of the independent Mayas, I can make an almost 
wholly favorable report from my own experience. Having come 
from Honduras, where the indolent negro and half-breed population, 
spoiled by the too liberal laws, can often be kept only with difficulty 
to the fulfillment of engagements into which they have entered, I was 
particularly impressed by the reliableness of these Mayas, by the 
jjunctuality with which they fulfilled a promise once given, and by 
the fidelity which they showed to me on my journey. My Maya 
guides freely shared their hunting booty with me and the bearers who 
accompanied me from Guatemala. Everywhere, even in the most iso- 
lated hut, we found hospitable entertainment. Family life was peace- 
ful and quiet, wherever I had an opportunity to observe it, and 
although the Mayas are somcAvliat reserved and more silent than the 
tribes of Guatemala and Chiapas, they are by no means of a sullen 
disposition, but, on the contrary, very quick to appreciate a harmless 
jest. It is often said of the Mayas that they are honest in important 
matters, but that they readily steal trifles; but I have never had the 
least thing stolen from me during my travels in Maya territory. On 
the other hand, drunkenness is a prevailing vice; and I can believe 
the accusation of cruelty against the Mayas, the more readily as from 
my own observation I judge that a certain trait of cruelty is peculiar 
even to the mildest of the Central American Indians. The blood- 
thirsty crueltj^ and warlike readiness Avhich the Santa Cruz Indians 
in particular evince in their expeditions have made their name exceed- 
ingly feared, and have caused the generalh'- accepted report of their 
great numbers and invincible armies. 

This reputation and the slight commercial relations of the inde- 
pendent Mayas are j^robably the principal reasons why scientific trav- 
elers so seldom visit these regions and Avhy their topography and pecu- 
liar political conditions are so little known. Engineer Miller, the 
account of whose travels in the Proceedings of the Eoyal Geographical 



SAPPER] INDEPENDENT INDIAN STATES OF YUCATAN 633 

Society, 1889, is nnfortiinately not accessible to me, was the first Euro- 
pean since the rebellion of 1847 to visit Chan Santa Cruz, the chief 
city of the eastern Mayas, and toward the end of 189?> tAvo Englishmen, 
Mr Strange and Mr Bradlej^, passed through the same village, at 
that time almost depopulated, on their way to see the chief of this 
tribe at his place of abode, the neighboring Chanquec* I could ascer- 
tain even less concerning southern Yucatan than concerning the 
Santa Cruz territory when at the beginning of the year 1894 I in- 
tended to advance through that region to the civilized northern por- 
tion of the peninsula. Orange Walk was the first place where I could 
obtain fairl}^ accurate information regarding the route to be followed. 
Unfortunately, 1 am not permitted in this article to use my itinerary 
maps, and therefore am restricted to an approximate location of places. 
As the basis of my sketch map I have used the " Map of the Penin- 
sula of Yucatan, based mainly on the Mapa. de la Peninsula de Yuca- 
tan of 1878, compiled by Joachim Hiibbe and Andres Aznar Perez, 
and revised and enlarged by C. Hermann Berendt ", given by Dr A. 
Woeikof in Petermanns Mitteilungen, 1879, plate ii. From this map 
I have copied without change the comparatively well-known northern 
and western part of the peninsula, but have omitted the details, be- 
cause the latter, based merely on hearsay, are for the most part very 
unreliable. On the other hand, I have added the railroads. 

I have given the location of the ruins, as far as they are known to 
me, owing to the great interest attached particularly to those of 
Yucatan. I have been able to make some not unessential corrections 
in regard to the south and east of the peninsula. At Icaiche, where 
Berendt's map gives a lake, there is no large permanent body of water. 
According to the information which I received, the Aguada of Hola- 
uolpech is only about 150 to 200 meters across. The connected lakes 
of Chonil and Chacanbacab, with a width of about half a legua, are 
together 2 leguas in length. The Laguna Corriente and the lake 
of Olchem are each 4 leguas in length. I have inserted the salt lake 
of Chichankanab in accordance with the verbal statements of Mr E. 
Thompson, of Merida, who has recentl}'^ measured it. The largest 
of the three narrow water basins, probably connected at high water, 
is 5f leguas in length. As the interior of Yucatan is very scantily 

" The two Englishmen had gone there as envoys to quiet the Santa Crnz Indians, who 
had been aroused hy political news recently received, namely, that the British Government 
had concluded a boundary treaty with the Mexican Government on July 8, 1893, in which, 
among other things, the English bound themselves to prohibit tlie selling of arms and 
ammunition to the independent Mayas. This stipulation aroused such dissatisfaction 
among the Santa Cruz Indians that a j-aid on Corozal was seriously feared. However, a 
large part of the Mexican people claim the northern section of British Honduras, includ- 
ing Belize itself, as Mexican territory, and on this account condemned the boundary 
agreement ; hence the Mexican Senate, in deference to public opinion, refused to ratify 
the treaty. 



634 BUEEAU OF AMERTCAK ETHi^OLOGY [bull. 28 

populated and many settlements were forsaken or destroyed in conse- 
quence of the rebellion and the war following upon it, many villages 
and roads no longer exist which, as a ride, are still marked on the 
maps. According to my information and experience, only the fol- 
lowing important roads are still extant in the southern and eastern 
parts of Yucatan: (1) The road from Peten to Yucatan, which 
divides into two branches at Concepcion; one branch going by way 
of Convuas to Champoton, the other by way of San Antonio and 
Tubusil to Campeche; both can be traversed on horseback. (2) From 
Icaiche, which can be reached from Belize either by way of Orange 
Walk and Corosalito, or by way of El Cayo and Caxuvinic, there is 
a road over Ilalatun to Ixkanha, which is little traveled and can be 
used only by pedestrians and beasts of burden. The road which 
once led from Icaiche over Xaibe to San Antonio is now overgrown. 
(3) A bridle path leads from Orange Walk, by way of Santa Cruz, on 
the Kio Hondo, to Ixkanha. From there a direct road leads over Xul 
to the railroad station Oxkiitzcab and another runs by way of Chun- 
chintok to Iturbide or to Tzibalchen and Campeche. (4) A bridle 
path leads from Bacalar to Petcacab, and thence through populated 
territory, by way of Chunox, to Santa Cruz la Grande and Chanquec. 
Foot paths, but seldom used, lead from the district of Santa Cruz to 
the neighboring inhabited regions. The topography of the peninsula 
of Yucatan, apart from that of the seacoast, is still very defective, and 
therefore I hope that the modest, approximate corrections presented 
by my sketch map, which is intended only for general orientation, 
will not be deemed quite without value. 



TWO VASES FROM CHAMA 

BY 

_E. P. DIESELDOPtFF, EDXJARX) SELER, 

AND 

E. FORSTEMAlSriSr 



635 



CONTENTS 



Page 
A pottery vase with figure painting, from a grave in Chama, by E. P. Dies- 

eldorff, witti remarlvs by Doctor Sctiellhas 639 

The vase of Chama,' by E. I^orstemann 647 

The vase of Chama, by Eduard Seler 651 

A clay vessel with a picture of a vampire-headed deity, by E. P. Dieseldorff. 665 

637 



A POTTERY YASE WITH FIGURE PAINTING, 
FROM A GRAYE IN CHAMA'^ 



By E. p. Dieseldorfe 



A notable discovery has recently been made in the Chama valley, 
known to us through Verhandlimgen der Gesellschaft fiir Anthro- 
pologie for 1893, pages 375 and 548. Tn the excavation of the north- 
Avestern temple mound of the upper plaza on the left bank of the 
Salta river a grave formed of stones was discovered, nearly 8 feet 
below the surface, containing several pottery vessels, the most im- 
portant of which I borrowed for a short time in order to make the 
accompanying drawing (plate xlviii). The original is now in the 
United States, where it probably figures as one of the chief ornaments 
of some drawing-room. 

When I first began my excavations in Chama, in 1892, I began to 
explore the hill in question, but Avas forced to abandon Avork because 
the OAvner forbade further search, in the belief that the articles found 
Avere of great money value. 

I observed then that, just as in the northern mound of the lower 
plaza (described in Verhandlungen, 1893, page 376), about 3 feet 
beloAV the surface there Avas a layer of resin about 6 feet broad and 
one-half of a foot thick, in Avhich a quantity of small broken sacri- 
ficial plates Avere mingled Avith bits of burnt stone beads and polished 
disks of iron pyrites, which I recognized as the remains of a burnt 
offering to the god of the north. 

Unfortunately, no notes Avere taken at the time of the discovery of 
the grave, but I heard that various pieces of jadeite Avere found among 
the pots, but no remains of bones, Avhich is explained by the fact that 
the tomb had partially fallen into ruins. 

The pottery vase is cylindric ; its height is 23.5 centimeters, and its 
diameter at the top and at the bottom is 14.8 centimeters, while the 
sides are 4 millimeters and the bottom 5 millimeters thick. In the 



« Ein bemaltes Thongefiiss mit figiirlichen Darstellongen, aus einem Grabe von Chamii, 
VerliaDdlungen der Berliner Gesellschaft fiir Anthropologie, Ethnologie und Urgeschichte, 
pp. 372 and following, published in the Zeitschrift fiir Ethnologie, 1894, pt. v. 

639 



640 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 25 

colors used, in j^olish and border decoration, it corresponds to the 
vases described in Verhandlungen, 1893, page 548, except that the 
ground is white. It is well preserved, and does not seem to have been 
used before burial. 

This time, however, the picture is essentially different. Thus far 
we have only met with paintings where one figure aj)pears twice on 
the same pot, w^ith slight variations ; on this vase, on the contrary, we 
have a group of seven persons taking part in a common action. This 
is no conventional design, but a painting which possesses life and 
shows an amazing degree of artistic skill. It seems to represent some 
religious ceremony which was celebrated at the completion of a cer^ 
tain still undetermined period of time, and at which human sacrifice 
was performed. It ought to be possible, however, to determine this 
period, since the glyph referring to it occurs on the monuments 
of Palenque and Copan. Unfortunately, it has not thus far been pos- 
sible to collect sufficient accurate material for such comparisons, and 
yet it is of the utmost importance for the decipherment of the 
glyphs that the inscriptions on stone should be made accessible to all. 
The only student who has made this his life task is the distinguished 
Englishman, Mr A. P. Maudslay, who for many years has studied 
the ruins and collected extensive material, which he is gradually 
publishing in his work, Biologia Centrali-Americana, issued in 
London. Thus far four volumes have appeared, which treat of Copan 
and Quirigua, and which should be consulted by all who are inter- 
ested in Maya investigation. Science owes Mr Maudslay a debt of 
gratitude for his generous labors, to which he is devoting much care 
and expense. It is to be hoped that others may soon follow who 
will share in these researches, but wealthy institutions and govern- 
ments are particularly called upon to undertake this work. In 
Germany we possess the most valuable Maya manuscript, and our 
scholars have taken the most active part in deciphering it; but, on the 
other hand, almost nothing has been done on the part of Germany 
toward collecting fresh material and promoting researches which 
give such rich returns when conducted on the spot. The British 
Museum, on the contrary, as soon as space can be found will arrange 
a Maya department in which the plaster casts prepared hj Mr 
Maudslay are to be placed, and the Peabody Museum has leased 
the ruins of Copan for eight jears more and has already begun exca- 
vations, the results of which will, it is hoped, very soon be published. 

Meanwhile some of the ruins, especially Quirigua, past which the 
new Guatemalan railroad is to be carried, will soon be completeh^ 
destroyed. If Germany desires to take part in these researches a 
beginning must be made at once. 

I will now proceed to a description of the picture. I will designate 
the Indian standing in the left-hand corner by a, the next by b, and 



DiESELDOKFF] POTTERY VASE WITH FIGURE PAINTING 641 

SO on. An elderl}^ Indian, who has been chosen for the sacrifice, 
kneels in the center; a black personage of rank advances toward him 
from the right, holding a lance and apparentl}^ demanding his life 
with bloodthirsty vengeance, while another stands on the left, evi- 
dently trying to pacify his opposite neighbor. Abont this main group 
stand four Indians who take no active part in the proceedings, and 
seem more like subordinates, upon whom the execution of the sacri- 
fice devolves. Each of them has a strongly marked type of face, of 
which I have found examples among the Kekchi Indians showing 
an almost perfect resemblance. From the diversity of headdress, 
ornament, and clothing we are justified in supposing that the char- 
acters represented filled different offices. It is probable that the 
Indian advancing from the right held the office of high priest, the one 
opposite him that of chilan, " soothsayer ", and that the other four 
were the Chacs, who were chosen by the priests and people in the 
month Pop from among the old men of rank to assist at sacrifices and 
religious ceremonies (see Landa, Relacion, pages 146, 160, and 166). 

The kneeling figure, which I have designated by e, holds a staff, 
which is either the token of his rank, like the short thick staff that the 
stewards of the caciques of Mayapan used to carry (see Landa, page 
40), or was used to ignite fires, as in the pictures of the codices. On 
his arms and legs appears, painted or tattooed, the design of the 
woven mat, which I cail the pop character, and to which I shall recur 
later. His right hand is held over the left shoulder so that it is not 
visible, though it seems to hold a white flower. He has no head cov- 
ering or ornament. The wrinkles on his face and his black-rimmed 
eyes characterize him as an old man. His mien is rather that of fear 
than of calm submission to his fate, such as Indians usually show. 

The chief priest, /, advancing from the right, is painted black 
and has in his outstretched right hand a gala lance, with a flint point 
and rattles, the shaft of which reaches to the ground. In his left 
hand he holds a painted fanlike object, Avhich I recognize as the 
soplador woven of palm leaves, used in every household in this 
country to kindle the fire, and which I do not think was ever used for 
fanning, a custom unknown among the Indians. A jaguar skin with 
head and forepaAvs hangs from his shoulders and seems to be fastened 
to a white article of attire on the breast, something like a shirt front. 
The under side of tlie animal skin is visible below the left arm 
and has a jagged edge produced in drying, the fresh skin being 
stretched on the ground with wooden pegs. A black stick protrudes 
from his neck, which I can not explain. Wrists and ankles are 
swathed in colored fabrics, also the left leg above the knee. The ex 
appears between the feet. The face is covered by a long beard, and 
there is a white rim about the mouth, such as we find in the black 
male monkey (batz, in Maya), and it is therefore probable that he 
7238— No. 28—05 41 



642 ■ BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

wears a monkey mask, like the priest in the Dresden codex, pages 25 to 
28, who appears with an animal mask at the ceremony of the new year. 

To the left of the kneeling figure stands the figure fZ, painted black, 
holding in its right hand a two-lashed scourge, while the left is 
raised apjoeasingly. The orbit of the eye, the ear, and the lower part 
of the face are painted yellow. A checkered, pointed cap, such as 
the chief priests usuallj^ wore, is bound on the back of his head. 
An ex of elaborate design hangs down before and behind. The black 
painting of figures / and d may possibly have some connection with 
the thirteen days' fast which is observed at the end of the year, 
during which it was the custom of the Mayas to paint their bodies 
with lampblack (see I>anda, pages 278 and 280), or the persons repre- 
sented may be the priests of black gods. 

The short but corpulent figure c that follows holds a soplador in his 
right hand. The face is distinguished by an aquiline nose and droop- 
ing lower lip and the black ring about the eye already noted in figure 
e, which I had also noticed in a statue at Copan. The head is bound 
with a strip of jaguar skin, from which the hair protrudes in rays. 
Below the ear and on the necklace hangs a round, black ball, which 
also appears on the shoulder of figure d^ and looks almost like a blot, 
but undoubtedly has a meaning. 

Figure h has the same sort of staif in his hand as the kneeling 
figure. The face is dark-colored, and the headdress similar to that 
just described, save that the hair is worn in tufts. On the breast, 
attached to a neck chain, rests a shield bearing the pop character, 
with an edge of sharp points. One end of the chain seems to be 
held by the man behind, as if he were holding him fast by it, an 
idea which is probably not convej^ed intentionally. 

Figure a is marked' by a huge headdress resembling a beehive, from 
which two feather fans project sidewise. The long, straight hair 
hangs down from the back of the head. The left hand grasps a bone 
partly painted red, and the right hand carries a soplador. The wrists 
and ankles are swathed. A white shield lies on the breast. Figure g^ 
standing in the right-hand corner, in many points resembles the one 
just described. He also holds a bone in his left hand, which is vari- 
ously applied as head ornament and ear peg. In his right hand, 
which is thrown over the shoulder, he grasps a three-lashed scourge, 
and under his arm is a soplador. Bright-colored fabrics are bound 
around his ankles and above the knee. The headband is narrow and 
yellow, and the eje is surrounded by a black ring with rays. 

There is a monstrous wart on the nose, which was probably con- 
sidered beautiful, for we note the same excresences in figures h and <?, 
and a has even bristles on his nose and forehead. 

The pop sign, already observed twice, occurs on the sculptures of 
Copan and Yucatan and on the wooden tablets of Tikal. I have also 



r.iESELDOEFF] POTTERY VASE WITH FIGURE PAINTING 643 

found it on a fragment of pottery at Canasec, near Coban. It appears 
in Copan very frequently and in various forms, as a breastplate, on 
the sides of the idols, and even as the basis of the glyphs on a stela, 
to be read in the order of succession as the plaiting runs ; but it is not 
to be found in the codices, from Avhich we may infer that it refers to 
men of distinction, but not to priests or gods. It appears in the 
codices as a mat (a, figure 130), which in all languages of the Maya 
group is called pop, for which reason I call it the pop sign. Now the 
title of a prince was Ahpop, the secular head of the Kiches was 
called Ahau-ahpop, and that of the Cakchikels Ahpop-Zotzil (see 
Ximenes, page 36 ; Titulo de los Sehores de Totonicapan, page 128 ; 
The Annals of the Cakchikels, page 36). I therefore conjecture that 
figures h and e, plate xlviii, were secular princes, Ahpops. 

We may further expect to find the plaited pattern in the glyph 
of the month Pop, which is the case in certain passages of the codices, 
the wooden tablets of Tikal, and the Palenque tablets 6, f', and d. 
figure 130, where, as in Landa's reproduction of it, e^ the character for 
" yellow " occurs, consisting of five small rings in a circle, so that the 
glyph signifies " yellow plaiting ", which is synonymous with bast 
mat, or pop. In some cases the center ring is missing, which may 
often be explained by lack of space or indistinctness, but in other cases 
it is intentional and perhaps stands with certain secondary signs for 
the rank of Ahpop. 

In the picture there are 23 glyphs, of which those between a and 
^, plate XLVIII, and those in front of e seem to refer to the action, 
and the rest chiefly to the persons participating in it. For greater 
clearness I will number them as follows: Those behind a, plate 
XLVIII, in their order as 1, 2, 3; before 6, 4, 5, 6 (number 6 
is Imix) ; before c, 7, 8, 9 ; before d, 10, 11 ; before /, 12, 13, 14, 15 
(12 is the jaguar's head) ; behind /, 16, 17, 18, 19 ; and before e, 20, 21, 
22, 23 (the last is the sign for the year). Glyphs 1 and 10 are the 
same, except that the latter has an affix, which I translate by aj, 
as I take 1 for the sign of the month Pop and 10 for the Ahpop 
rank (see the sign of the month Pop ill the Dresden codex, /, figure 
130). Glyph 2 signifies a j^eriod of time, which is greater than 
20 years of 360 days each, because it appears twice in the Palenque 
relief in a place where a period of time and a date are given and 
in both cases the sign for 20 years of 360 days each, determined by 
Professor Forstemann, stands next as indicating less value (Zeitschrift 
fiir Ethnologic, 1891, page 150, and here g, h, and /, figure 130). 

Sign 3 is the glyph for yellow (kan). Sign 4 occurs with pre- 
fixes as sign 17 and 21; the prefix of 17 signifies black, and as it 
belongs to /, plate xlviii, which I regard as the black high priest, 
sign 4 might read " priests ", which would harmonize Avith the fact 
that figures h and e carry the staff used by priests to ignite the fire. 



644 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



[bdll. 28 



If we compare sign 12 with the headpiece of jaguar skin, the rela- 
tion is certainly striking. Here I would recall the fact that the 
same glyph occurs on the urn described in the Verhandlungen der 
Berliner Gesellschaft fiir Anthropologie, 1893, page 550, which we 
now recognize as the glyph of the day Ix, more correctly written Hix 
("jaguar"). Signs 15 and 18 are the glyph of the lightning beast, 
mapatch, in Indian aj-ou, which was represented by Landa as the 
letter " o ", and erroneously assumed by Brasseur to be the letter " p ". 
The same glyph appears in the codices as the month Xul, and since 
xul in the Kekchi tongue has retained its original significance, which 
is " animal ", the month is, therefore, the animal month (/^, Z, and m, 
figure 130). The double " ik " as an affix of sign 15 recalls Landa's 
reproduction of the month Pop, e. Sign 16 seems to be the picture 
of a dead bearded monkey's head, which reminds me that figure / 
apparently wears a monkey mask. Sign 20 is the glyph of the god 



rRV.^V--<NN^I 





/ 







n 




i h ui p 

Fig. 130. Glyphs from Maya codices and inscriptions. 

designated by Doctor Schellhas as F, the companion of the death god 
(Verhandlungen der Berliner Gesellschaft fiir Anthropologie, 1892, 
page 112) . Sign 21 occurs in the Dresden and Troano codices in con- 
nection with fire-kindling; it also appears on the Palenque relief, n 
(figure 130). Sign 23 is the sign for the year with the numeral 5, 
and it occurs similarly in the Dresden codex, o. Doctor Seler consid- 
ers it equivalent to the gl.yph of god N, p. 

Much in the preceding picture and in the glyphs is still unex- 
plained, and much may have been erroneously interpreted by me. It 
is therefore desirable that further investigations should be instituted 
by others. I believe that the ceremony represented is connected 
either with the beginning of a Kan year or of a new katun. On the 
latter occasion (consult Brasseur, Landa, and Pio Perez) it was 
always the custom to offer a human sacrifice and to kindle a new fire. 



HEMAKKS BY DOCTOR SCHELLHAS « 

The discoveries of Mr E. P. Dieseldorff show in the forms of the 
pictorial representations and of the glyphic characters the greatest 
resemblance to the antiquities of Palenque. They evidently belong to 
a common cultural region and cultural group; to the same group, 
indeed, to which the Maya manuscripts, and especially the Dresden 
and Peresian codices, belong. On the other hand, they show the same 
deviations from the antiquities of Yucatan proper as do the manu- 
scripts and the antiquities of Palenque and also those of Copan. 
Aztec accordances and influences, such as exist in northern Yucatan, 
seem to be wanting. Mr Dieseldorff 's discoveries (especially the 
present one and the one published in the Verhandlungen cler Berliner 
Gesellschaft fiir Anthropologic, 1893, page 547 and following) con- 
firm the theory already set forth by me in Internationales Archiv fiir 
Ethnographic, volume 3, 1890, at the end of the paper entitled 
" Vergleichende Studien aus dem Felde cler Maya Alterthiimer ", that 
the Maya manuscripts originated in a region to the south of the pen- 
insula of Yucatan and that we must seek in that region, that is, in the 
interior of Chiapas and Guatemala, for the primal seat and origin 
of the ancient civilization of Central America, whose more highly 
artistic and more realistic forms appear in Yucatan proper to be 
already blended with and influenced by the more rigid, conventional 
types of Mexican art and mode of representation. 

" Same place as the preceding paper. 

645 



THE VASE OF CHAMA" 



By E. Fokstemann 



My friend, Mr Dieseldorff, of Coban, Guatemala, has rendered a 
most .acceptable service to Maya investigation by the discovery and 
first discussion of this remarkable vessel (Verhandlungen, volume 1(), 
pages 372 to 377 and plate viii). As he is desirous that it should be 
further investigated by others, I will not withhold my opinion, 
although I am well aware I can add but little and must still leave 
much in obscurity. 

For the better comprehension of Mr Dieseldorif's drawing, I will 
first set down the 23 glyphs belonging to the picture in the order 
in which they occur on the plate (plate xlviii). They are arranged 
in seven groups, as follows : 
1 4,6 



7 


10 


12,13 


16 


S 


11 


14 


17 


9 




15 


IS 






20 


19 






21.23 





My first remark refers to a certain resemblance between this picture 
and the lower half of page 60 of the Dresden codex. There we see on 
the left a personage, spear in hand, enthroned on a serpent, wliich 
lies upon the neck of a second personage, v/hose eyes are bandaged. A 
third personage in warlike dress, armed with a spear, leads a fourth 
toward this group from the right; this fourth figure is cowering 
on the ground, with arms bound and eyes rimmed Avith black. These 
four are all gods, and I have already expressed my ideas regarding 
this picture elsewhere. 

The vase of Chama, on the contrary, for once presents nothing 
supernatural, but more agreeably, if I may say so, a scene of purely 
human interest. The picture here clearly refers to the great feast 
celebrated by the Mayas, as well as by the Aztecs, every 8 years, 
that wonderful solar and Venus period of 2,920 days, which I last 
discussed in my article " Zur Entzifferung der Mayahandschriften, 

« Das Oefass von Chfima, Verhandlungen dei- tJei-liner Gesellscliaft lur Anthropologie, 
Ethnologie, und Urgeschichte, pp. 573 and following, published in Zeitschrift fiir Ethnol- 
ogie, 1894, pt. 6. 

647 



648 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

IV ". Glyphs 1 to 3 and 23, the initial ones and the last, point to this 
period of time, unless we are wholly mistaken. Mr Dieseldorff 
regards sign 1 as that of the first 20-day period of the year, Pop, 
and I have no other suggestion to offer, although we have here only 
a part of Pop. In regard to sign 2. I differ with Mr Dieseldorff, 
who is reminded of the designation of a period of time on a relief at 
Palenque. But the period referred to there embraces a huna, that is, 
400 years, and this seems to me entirely irrelevant here. It seems 
rather to suggest a variant of the sign of the south, that is, the Cauac 
years. But the sign of the south is something resembling a pair of 
scales, doubtless referring to the rising and setting of the sun, and be- 
low this, the sign yax (" power ", " strength ") as symbolic of the 
power of the southern sun. In this case I believe I find the sign yax 
duplicated, the scales being merely indicated for lack of space. Mr 
Dieseldorff regards sign 3 as that representing yellow color, but it is 
the symbol of the east and the Kan years. According to this 1 to 3 
would read " the month Pop midway between the Cauac and the Kan 
years ". It might, therefore, be regarded as a metliod of dating. 

The concluding sign, 23, offers no difficulty at all. It consists of 
the glyph for 5^ear combined with the number 8 and a prefix, which 
possibly gives that glyph the value of 305 days, while by itself it 
denotes only 360 days. 

Moreover, I believe that this picture does not represent this feast 
in general, but a particular feast of this nature, and that it may not 
be impossible in the future to determine the time of this feast exactly. 
The festival consisted, after previous fasting and scourging, princi- 
pally in the kindling of new fire, in feasting, and in human sacrifice. 

Fasting, as Mr Dieseldorff also thinks, is probably indicated by the 
painting black of the personages d and /, possibly also by the black- 
rimmecl eyes of c, e, and g. Whether the scourges carried by d and g 
relate to this chastisement (it seems very much as if g were engaged in 
the very act) I leave uncertain. 

The kindling of fresh fire, which plays so important a part in 
the Perez calendar given by Stephens, is indicated by the implement 
held by a, c, /, and g, which Mr Dieseldorff distinctly recognizes as 
the soplaclor, or fire kindler, still in use. The personage h seems to 
be the actual kindler of the fire, since he holds the wooden fire drill in 
his hand ; in the Perez calendar the fire-kincller is a special official. It 
is with h that we find sign 4, so often met with, which plays so great 
a part and is apparently connected with fire, for instance, in the Dres- 
den codex, pages 4c to 5c; perhaps it even designates the rising flame. 
This glyph appears twice more in our picture ; first, as sign 17, where 
it has a prefix, apparently that of the north, and, secondly, as sign 21, 
where it also has a prefix, which apparent!}^ occurs three times in the 



FOESTB-MANNl 



THE VASE OF GHAMA 649 



Dresden codex, pages 5b to 6b, in direct connection with the kindling 
of fire. 

The banquets are very realistically indicated by the bones, which 
the two personages, a and g^ doubtless the loAvest in rank among the 
seven, hold in their hands. Therefore it would seem that the glyphs 
ought also to refer to food, which reminds us that the sign Imix 
(6 and 14 here, both provided with the same secondary sign) has 
the added sense of maize. Indeed, I would make the suggestion, 
though I may be in error, that glyphs 8 and 22, which are wholly unfa- 
miliar to me, may perhaps denote some local form of baked food. 

We now come to the human sacrifice, the performance of which we 
do not see here, as in certain passages of the manuscripts, but only 
the preparation. I imagine the purport of the scene to be as follows : 
A warrior of high rank has captured a wounded enemy, who, against 
the will of the actual victor, is claimed by the priest as a sacrifice. 
Let us now consider the separate actors in this scene. 

The prisoner, c, of course, is the central point. We see him sunk 
down upon the ground. In his hand is a staff, which I can by no 
means regard as a fire drill, but either as a badge of rank or as a 
broken spear. It is evident to me that he is wounded from the arrow 
point piercing the lower jaw and the agonized motion toward it of 
the right hand. Behind the neck we see a flower. This may possibly 
express the prisoner's name, but I will not withhold another observa- 
tion regarding it. Two words are common to all the Maya dialects, 
one of which is written quix, chix, chiix, and the like, the other 
quic, chich, chic, etc. The former seems to signify a plant, the dic- 
tionaries usually giving the meaning of thorn; but the second word 
invariably signifies blood. Does the flow^er, possibly that of a thorn 
bush, refer to the wound ? 

Before the prisoner, at the right, stands the warrior, /, who claims 
him as his property ; for that he is a Avarrior and not a priest is indi- 
cated by the lance (the tip of which seems to be stained with blood, 
as in the Troano codex, pages 5b to 4b) and by the jaguar skin thrown 
about him. Before his face are the four characters 12 to 15, which 
seem to have reference to him. I regard 12 as the sign of his rank, 
Avhich is further emphasized by sign 13, the well-known ahua 
(" lord "). 14 is, like 6, imix; I am uncertain as to what it signifies 
here. Nor do I venture to decide regarding 15, although the sign 
above it is clearly the ben-ik sign, so frequently found in the manu- 
scripts and inscriptions, to which, until a better meaning appears, I 
attach that of the lunar month of 28 days; unfortunately the prin- 
cipal sign beneath it is indistinctly drawn. AVhat the staff protrud- 
ing from this person's neck signifies I am unable to say, as is Mr 
Dieseldorff. If it is a spear thnnver (Aztec, atlatl), then it is indis- 
tinctly represented. 



650 BUliEAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

Behind / stands g^ doubtless a person of lower rank, belaboring 
himself with his scourge and rejoicing in his bone. I can not explain 
the four glyphs 16 to 19 before his face; 16, with the closed eye, 
generally indicated death or the death god ; 17 seems to be composed 
of the signs for the north (the region of death) and for flame. I 
venture no conjecture concerning 18 and 19. Can this whole group 
be an allusion to human sacrifice ? 

We now come to the four personages tc5 the left of the prisoner. 
The black one, d., recognizable as chief priest by his headdress, seems 
to lay claim to the prisoner. I venture no suggestion as to the two 
signs 10 and 11, apparently belonging to him; perhaps the first, as 
Mr Dieseldorff thinks, refers directly to the priest. 

Next comes the interesting personage c, a short, stout gentleman, 
whose faj^e is not in the least conventional, but, on the contrary, very 
individual, which suggests the idea that the artist in this case, as 
possibly also in that of the other personages represented, had certain 
individuals in mind. His jaguar-skin cap and perhaps the black 
balls hanging below his ear and over his breast indicate his high rank, 
and sign 9 (ahau, "lord"), close before his forehead, confirms this. 
If signs 7 and 8, as I suggested, refer to the feast, then the former 
indicates the presiding officer, for which his corpulence well befits him. 
This personage seems to me to have something humorous about him. 

c is accompanied by the fire-kindler, &, who seems to give his opin- 
ion in regard to the quarrel between priest and Avarrior with the look 
of an experienced official. Of the three glj^phs alloted to him, 4 to 6, 
the last at any rate gives his ran]^, while I have tried to attribute to 
4 the kindling of the fire and to 5 the banquet. 

There still remains, on the extreme left, a subordinate figure, a, who 
was not deemed worthy of a glyph, and who has an extremeh^ stupid 
face and an open mouth. His liverj^, confined wholly to his head, 
must have seemed comical even to the Mayas themselves. 

I suppose that this discovery is the more valuable because we 
possess hardl}^ any representations pertaining to actual human life 
from the Mayas, except perhaps in some parts of Codex Troano- 
Cortesianus. 



THE VASE OF CHAMA« 



By Eduard Seler 



The beautiful vase of which Mr Dieseldorff was unfortunately not 
able to send the society more than a drawing, which is reproduced in 
plate VIII of the volume for 1894, was discussed in the last number 
of the same volume by Mr E. Forstemann. To my mind it is not safe 
to attempt special interpretations of complex representations of this 
kind in which glyphs also play a part, when only a drawing and 
not, at the very least, a photographic reproduction serves as a guide ; 
for we know how even the master hand of a Catherwood and of the 
artist whom Lord Kingsborough employed failed in the reproduction 
of these intricate figures and symbols. I would, therefore, have 
avoided any expression of my opinion as to the meaning of these rep- 
resentations had I not observed that an incidental identification men- 
tioned by Mr Dieseldorif in his description of the picture, and which 
is certainly incorrect^ has been used by Mr Forstemann as the princi- 
pal argument to prove a certahi point. 

Mr Dieseldorff^ says: "The chief priest, /, advancing from the 
right, is painted black ... ; in his left hand he holds a painted fan- 
like object, which I recognize as the soplador, woven of palm leaves, 
used in every household in this country to kindle the fire, and which 
I do not think was ever used for fanning, a custom unl^nown among 
the Indians ". And similarly, in discussing the other figures, he 
speaks of this implement as a " soplador ". But Mr Forstemann con- 
cludes: « " The implement held by persons, a, 6', /, and rj points to the 
kindling of the new fire, and is most distinctly recognized by Mr 
Dieseldorff as the soplador, or fire kindler, still in use " (see plate 

XLVIIl) . 

It is certainly true that fans woven of strips of palm leaf are used 
in Guatemala, as in many parts of tropical America, to kindle 
and keep up the fire. Dieseldorff's statement that the Indians of the 

« Das Gefass von Chama, Verhandlimgen der Berliner Gesellschaft fiir Anthropologie, 
Ethnologie, and Urgeschichte, 1895, pp. 307 to 320, pviblished in Zeitsclirift fiir Etlinologie, 
1895, pts. 3-4. 

6 Verliandlungen, v. 26, 1894, p. 374. 

<■ Verliandlungen, v. 26, 1894, p. 574. 

651 



652 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bdll. 28 

present day in Guatemala do not use a fan for fanning themselves is 
also doubtless true. Neither to my knowledge are fans used among 
the Mexican Indians of to-day, at least not as a general custom, but 
among the ancient Mexicans the fan was an article in general use. 
We know this from the language; we learn it from the texts and 
from history, and we see it in the illustrations of the Mendoza codex. 
And it was not otherwise with the Maya races, for the word exists 
in the Maya language proper as well as in the languages of Guate- 
mala.'* If we find no fans represented in the few Maya manuscripts 
which we possess, it is simply because they treat onlj of religious and 
calendric matters, just as we also look in vain for fans in Mexican 
picture writing of the same kind. But we find pictures of them in 
the Mendoza codex, the only manuscript which treats of everyday 
civil and political life, and they occur in Mixtec picture writings. 
which appear princi23all3^ to relate to legends of the immigrations of 
ancestors, human or divine. It strikes me as simply inconceivable 
that the fire fan should have been used in the ceremony of procuring 
fire by friction or that it should have been placed in the hands of the 
figures portrayed merely to convey to the beholder the idea of the 
ceremony of fire-making. In the many representations of fire drill- 
ing with which T am familiar in Mexican picture manuscripts, and 
there can not be far from a hundred of them, the fan is not used for 
this purpose in a single instance. The use of a fire fan is depicted by 
old de I^ery as familiar to the Tupinambas of Brazil, and he describes 
it as follows: "At night he orders the fire betimes to be blown to a 
flame with a kind of small bellows, called tatapecona, not unlike the 
screen which our women hold before their faces when they stand 
by the fire ". But when he describes the fire drill he does not men- 
tion "a small bellows". He says: "Such rapid and vigorous rub- 
bing produces not only smoke, but also fire. Then they put on cotton 
or dry leaves, instead of our tinder, and the fire kindles very easily ". 
Two kinds of fans were in use among the ancient Mexicans. Those 
of one kind, made of feathers, were costly. They Avere used at 
festivals and served as tokens of high rank, inasmuch as kings and 
noble warriors were entitled to wear those made of the precious green 
tail feathers of the quetzal bird,'' the great merchants being allowed 
only to use those made of the feathers of the grouse '^ of the tierra 

« Ual, " abanico, aventador, mosqueador " (Perez, Diccionario de la Lengua Maya). 
Val, "aventador de pluma, 6 de pahna " (Brasseur, Vocabulaire do la langue Quich^e). 
Vual, " Facher " (in the rokomam tongue, according to Berendt). On the other hand, 
hopob-kak or hopzah kak, " soplador del f uego " (Terez). 

''■Usaban traer los Senores imos mosqiieadores en la mano que llamaban quetzal ecaceu- 
aztli, y con unas bandas de oro que subian con las plumas (Sahagun, v. 8, cap. 9). 

■^ Cuando Ileguemos & nnestra tierra sera tiempo de usar los barbotes de ambar, y las 
orejeras que se Uaman quetzalcoyolnacochtli y nuestros bftculos negros que se llaman 
xauactopilli y los aventadores y ojeadores de moscas (coxoli yehcaceuaztli), las mantas 
ricas que hemos de traer y los maxtles preciados (Sahagun, v. 9, cap. 2). 



selek] 



THE VASE OF CHAM A 



653 



caliente. Fans of the other kind were simpler and were used in 
traveling. Hence thej^ are the symbol for a traveler or for a king's 
messenger. I reproduce here a picture from the Mendoza codex, 
page 69 (figure 131), which represents the old and tried warriors 




Fig. 131. Warriors with fans, from the Mendoza codex. 

who had received the title Tequiua from the king and had the right 
conferred on them to go as his ambassadors (embaxadores) and to 
serve as leaders and pathfinders in war (adalides en las guerras). 
They are represented "with their great lances and fans" (con sus 




a h 

Fig. 1S2. Messengers and traders attacl<ed, from the Mendoza codex. 

lanzones y ventallos), as the translation says, and with their bodies 
painted black, corresponding to their rank, and because they are 
bound on an official mission. In «, figure 132, I give a pair of mes- 
sengers of lower rank (mandones — executores y embaj adores del 



654 



BUKEAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



[bull. 28 



Senorio de Mexico), from the Mendoza codex, page 67, who have 
carried a declaration of war to the cacique of a village and are flee- 
ing from the now hostile region, pursued by archers. In 6, same 
figure, also from the Mendoza codex, page 67, we have the event 
which occasioned the challenge — the surprise and murder of Mexi- 
can traders by natives of the village in question. Here, too, besides 
the carrying frame with the bale of wares and the traveling staff, 
we have the fan as a necessary article to be carried on a journey 
as a matter of course. To these three pictures from the Mendoza 
codex I add still another example (a, figure 133) , taken from the Mix- 
tec Colombino (Dorenberg) codex, illustrating a subject of a more 
mythologic nature. Here, too, is an undoubted representation of 
travelers, who therefore hold in their right hand what may be a 
lance or merely a traveling staff and in their left hand carry a fan. 
But the foremost of these persons is the most famous of the Mexican 




a ^ 

Fig. 133. Travelers and whip, from the Mixtec-Columbino codex and the Chama vase. 

gods, Quetzalcoatl, the wind god and the hero of the myths of the 
wandering Toltecs. 

The application of these pictures to the scene represented on the 
Chama vase is self-evident. Whoever examines the attitude and bear- 
ing of the separate personages impartially will scarcely form the idea 
.that one of the chief priests advancing from the right " seems to de- 
mand the death of the kneeling victim with bloodthirsty vehemence. 
Avhile the one opposite is evidently trying to pacify him ". It is 
scarcely probable that such matters were ever discussed. If a sacri- 
fice was deemed necessary or useful, and a fit subject was at hand, 
the sacrifice was performed. The scene assuredly has an entirely 
different meaning from the one ascribed to it. and I think I can 
explain it in two words: arrival and reception. 

Now for the kneeling fio-ure. Mr Dieseldorff thinks it is an elderly 



SELBE] THE VASE OF CHAMA 655 

Indian intended for sacrifice, and Mr Forstemann refers us to page GO 
of the Dresden manuscript, where we see a captive kneeling at the 
feet of a warrior armed with sliield and spear and adorned with a 
great feather crown. 

A^Hboever is willing to conclude that the person in question {e, 
according to Dieseldorff's designation) is an Indian intended for 
sacrifice, merely because he is represented kneeling, may do so. 
But I do not believe that he will succeed in finding anything to 
support his theory in any pictorial representation of a Maya manu- 
script or Mexican picture writing. To me it seems indubitable 
that this figure (see plate xlviii) is not meant to represent a prisoner. 
In their pictorial representations these ancient peoples were wont to 
speak a language which can not so easily be misunderstood. The pris- 
oner was drag-g-ed to the spot by the hair of his head. That is the 
usual mode of representation in Mexican picture writing and on 
Mexican reliefs. That was the actual procedure in the worship of the 
Mexicans when a prisoner was offered as a sacrifice. Or else the pris- 
oner is represented as a captive, with arms bound behind his back, or 
carried in a bag like a trophy of the chase. It is thus in the Maya 
manuscripts. Mr Forstemann goes still more into detail in describ- 
ing his picture. He believes he recognizes in the object which the 
person e has in his hand either a badge of office or a broken spear. He 
sees an arrow head sticking in the lower jaw, and the right hand seems 
to him to be raised in agony toward the Avound. And, lastly, he is 
inclined to consider the flower visible at the ba<3k of the neck as a 
symbol for blood, the result of an association of ideas produced by 
the similarity of sound between quix (" thorn ") , and quic (" blood ") . 
Precisely what Mr FcJrstemann takes for the arrow head piercing 
the lower jaw, whether it is the two last hairs of the beard, or the 
black marking, which seems to be below the upper lip, or perhaps 
the two ear pegs, I frankly confess I do not know. x\s for the 
gesture of the right hand, which is moreover exactly the same as 
that of the last personage, the companion of the advancing chief- 
tain, it has quite a different and a very definite meaning. It at as the 
customary salute among the pagan Mayas, or rather a sign of 
humility and submission, the sign of peaceful intent." 

The gesture is perfectly comprehensible. The hand in which the 
enemy holds his weapon, the hand with which he deals a blow, is turned 
backward, away from the one who is to be peacefully saluted. The 
weapon which is held in the right hand was probably laid aside for 

" See Cogolludo, v. 9, cap. 8, and Villagutierre y Sotomayor, v. 2, cap. 2 : Luego que 
llegaron, saludaron los dos capitanes (Itzaex), & los dos Religiosos, a su nsanga (que es, 
ecliar el brar-o derecho sobre el ombro, en seual de paz y amistad), that is they saluted 
the two monks after their fashion, by raising the right arm upward toward the shoulder, 
as a sign of peace and friendsliip. 



556 BUREAU OF AMEEICAN ETHNOLOGY [bdll. 28 

the moment." In this picture the figure g, the companion of the 
visitor, has tucked the fan, which he originally held in his right hand, 
under his left arm in a rather comical manner, in order to perform the 
salute. The reason why but two of the seven figures in our picture 
perform the salute is that this gesture is here made only by the fol- 
lowers of the chief personages. These chief personages are, on the 
one side, the strange chieftain just arriving ; on the other side, the four 
princes of the tribe visited, who, if they were of the Kiche tribe, for 
instance, would bear the titles Ahpop, Ahpop Camha, Ahau Kalel, 
and Ahtzic Vinak. The kneeling person, therefore, marked for sacri- 
fice by Mr Dieseldorif, regarded by Mr Forstemann as a wounded, 
bleeding captive claimed as a victim by the priest against tlie will 
of the real victor, I consider simply as the attendant, the servant, the 
follower— the slave, if you will— of the four princes who are receiv- 
ing the strange chieftain into their territory. It is possible that he 
IS represented kneeling merely for the sake of economizing space, 
since \hQ attitude of a person advancing in rapid action left a gap 
not otherwise to be filled. Moreover, a greater degree of submissive- 
ness is justifiable or at any rate courteous on the part of those receiv- 
ing a guest. 

Mr Forstemann is quite correct in assuming, contrary to Mr Diesel- 
dorff's view, that the personage advancing from the right can only 
be a warrior. I would like to be more explicit and assert that he is 
a warrior chief. The common soldier among the Mexicans carried 
the maquauitl, the wooden sword with an edge of obsidian splinters. 
The chieftains, as figure 131 and other pictures in the Mendoza codex 
show, carried long pikes, which had at the point a bladelike expansion 
armed with obsidian splinters. The common soldier among the 
Mayas was armed with bow and arrows and the chief carried a long 
pike. In the passage which I cited in confirmation of the gesture of 
salutation these pikes which were carried by the Maya chiefs are 
exactly described. I will quote the description here, because it puts 
into words precisely what we see in the Chama picture. The refer- 
ence is to the two leaders whom Canek, the chieftain of the Itzas, 
sent to Tipu in 1618 to meet the two Franciscan monks, Bartholo- 
mew de Fuensalida and Juan de Orbita: " They carried pikes Avith 
blades of flint, quite after the manner of ours, only that ours have 
blades of steel, and they have at the base of the blade many feathers 
of bright and beautiful colors, just as our ensigns have tassels wound 
about at the head. The blades are about one-fourth of an ell long, 

"In the same way the North American Indians hold out the right hand, palm upward, 
or raise both hands empty, in sign of peace and friendship, while the Natchez, who met 
La Salle's column in 1682. expressed the same idea hy clasping their hands together. 
Kee Garrick Mallery in First Annual Report, Bureau of Ethnology, pp. 530 and 531. 



selee] 



THE VASE OF CHAMA ' 657 



two-edged, and with points as sharp as a dagger j:»oint. The other 
Ttzas carried bows and arrows, without Avhich they never venture 
out of their town ". 

With the vieAv I hold in regard to the kneeling figure in our 
picture, e, I can not, of course, suppose the object which this person 
holds in his left hand and seems to be presenting to be a part of a fire 
drill. Owing to the indistinctness of the drawing I can not say what 
it reall}^ represents. 

On the other hand, I can only regard as a misapprehension the 
statement of Messrs Dieseldorff and Forstemann that the companion 
of the advancing chief {g, plate xlviii) has a scourge in his hand. 
The whip is familiar to us, peoples of the Old World, as an instru- 
ment for inflicting pain, because we have saddle and draft liorses 
which are driven with the whip. But among the ancient Central 
Americans, who were unfamiliar with the use of animals for such 
purposes, there was, ordinarily, no reason for the invention of such 
an instrument. The only instance I know of a whip in Mexico and 
Central America (5, figure 133) is, in fact, contained in a picture in 
which an animal is being led. It is one of the interesting clay reliefs 
from Chiapas, preserved in the Museo Nacional of Mexico, Avhich 
shows the sacred tapir led by two richly clad priests." But this is the 
only instance of which I know. I have never thus far found a 
scourge in the long list of instruments used by the Mexicans and Cen- 
tral Americans to inflict torture upon themselves or others, and these 
lists are recorded with pedantic exactness in various passages of the 
picture writings. 

. What Messrs Dieseldortf and Forstemann regard as a whip brand- 
ished in the hand of g, plate xlviii, in the Chama picture, is, if the 
drawing is indeed correct, nothing more than a necklace, somewhat 
displaced by the energetic motion of the right hand, and consisting 
of a large, four-cornered prismatic or cylindric stone bead, strung 
on a twisted cord. We know from actual specimens in our collections 
that such long cylindric or prismatic beads were worn, and this is 
shown, for instance, by various clay figures and fragments in Doctor 
Sapper's collection. Whoever compares this supposed whip of g 
Avith the cord on which a ring, apparently cut from a mussel shell, 
is hung about the neck of & must be convinced, it seems to me, of the 
correctness of my view. 

I need hardly dwell upon the fact that I am equally unwilling to 
regard the object held in the hand of d as a scourge. This black- 
painted figure is apparently the spokesman of the group represented 

o These clay tiles are reproduced in the splendid souvenir publication issued by the Junta 
Columbina in Mexico three years ago for the celebration of the four hundredth anniver- 
sary of the discovery of America. 
7238— No. 28—05 42 



658 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

on the left side of the picture. The uplifted hand shows that he is 
uttering the speech of Tvelconie. But I can not say what the object 
may be which he holds in his right hand, whether it is a badge of 
oiRce, or what it is. 

I now come to the bones Avhich both a and g hold in the left hand. 
Forstemann's theory that by means of them " the banquets are very 
realistically indicated " is anything but convincing, and I really 
think it must be characterized as grotesque. For even the other 
glj^phs to which Mr Forstemann refers are of undetermined mean- 
ing. I think that there can be no question here of anything but an 
implement or a cognizance. In the picture writings and the collec- 
tions we chiefly find three kinds of implements made of bone. Bones 
pointed at one end were used as daggers (punches, awls) and as 
instruments of castigation. Bones with parallel incisions on the sur- 
face could be used as rattles (Mexican omichicauaztli) by passing 
over them the prong of a deer's horn or a snail shell. Flutes were 
also made of long bones, as in ancient Peru and among the Guiana 
Caribs. Such bone flutes were dug up, for instance, at Progreso, near 
Merida, Yucatan, with ancient clay vessels and skeletons Avith mal- 
formed skulls.'^ The bone held by a and g can not have been used as a 
dagger on account of its form. We may assume that it was a musi- 
cal instrument, a flute, or a rattle. 

As for the persons represented, the most striking thing about them 
is that all, with the single exception of g, farthest to the right, have 
more or less marked indications of a beard. We know that Indians 
in general have a very slight growth of beard, and among man3^ 
indeed among most, tribes the law of beauty demanded that the face 
and body should be kept as smooth as possible. Tweezers play an 
important part among the antiquities and in modern ethnography 
everywhere in America. Of the Mayas of Yucatan in particular the 
chronicler relates that they had no beards and that children even were 
subjected to a prescribed treatment to prevent the growth of beards.^ 
The arriving chieftain, /, has a beard of singularly striking form. 
Mr Dieseldorff recognizes it as the form of beard which occurs in the 
males of a species of monkey known to the Indians as batz, and there- 
fore suggests that the figure in question wears a monkey mask. I 
Avill not deny that the shape of this beard may stand in distinct spe- 
cific relation to the beard of a monkey, but I can not admit that / 
Avears a monkey mask. The face of the monkey has certain distinctly 
characteristic features, Avhich are usually faithfully grasped and 
reproduced by Indian artists; but these are Avholly Avanting here. 

" Anales del Museo Nacional de Mexico, v. 3. p. 278. 

* " No criavan barbas, y decian que les qnemavan los rostros sus madres con paiios 
calientes, siendo niiios, porque no les creciesen " (Landa). 



seler] 



THE VASE OF CHAMA 



659 



The sun god is represented in Maya raanuscrijits as bearded, and so, 
frequently, in Mexican picture writings, is the god Qiietzalcoatl, who, 
although usually called the wind god, can not deny kinship with the 
sun god of the Maya tribes. 

The Mayas styled the sunbeams u mex kin (" beard of the sun '').« 
I o-ive in «. figure 134, two pictures of Quetzalcoatl, and below them 
four pictures of the sun god from the Dresden manuscript, which may 
safely be designated as Kinich Ahau. The beard surrounding the 
entire chin is unmistakable. The last two pictures particularly agree 
with /, plate xlviii, of the Chama vase in the shape of the beard, 
indeed I might almost say in the features, especially in the shape of 
ihe nose, which in the drawings of the Dresden manuscript is usually 
stereotyped and characteristic for the individual gods. The person- 











e 




(V) 






a 




KjhJ 



c d e f 

Fig. 134. Figures fi-om codices showing beard, and glyphs from vase. 

ages at the left of the picture, on the other hand, have beards corre- 
sponding more nearly to the natural sparse growth of Indians. In 
this connection I will not omit to draw attention to the fact that 
among the antiquities from the Kekchi territory, the region about 
Coban, in the possession of -the Royal Museum of Ethnolog}% there 
are various small clay masks and heads with plainly developed 
mustaches. 

« Mexkin rayos del sol (Perez's dictionary). 



660 BUKEAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [boll. 28 

In one of the famous reliefs of Santa Lucia cle Cozumalhuapa the 
sacrificial priest is seen in the center, and in the four corners his four 
assistants, Avho are variously costumed according to the cardinal 
l^oints to which they belong, and are in part represented as skeletons. 
Each of the five personages bears in his arm, that is, in his hand, the 
head of a human being, and each of these heads has peculiar features, 
a peculiar style of wearing the hair, etc. Only the head held by the 
chief priest agrees in features and coiffure with that carried by the 
skeleton in the lower right-hand corner. Both heads have an aged, 
bearded face. Were not the distinguishing marks of old age clearly 
exhibited by both these heads, together with the beard, we should be 
justified in thinking that the four cut-off heads w^ere meant to indicate 
the four tribes living at the four cardinal points, and that the tribe in 
the lower right-hand corner was distinguished by a growth of beard 
and was also the chief enemy of the builders of the monuments of 
Cozumalhuapa. 

To return to our Chama picture, both Dieseldorff and Forstemann 
especially call attention to the knobby excrescences on the forehead 
and nose of several of the characters on the left hand. Both, without 
hesitation, declare them to be warts. I do not think such growths 
were deemed particularly beautiful by an}'' tribe, much less that the 
ancient Indian artist Avould have felt obliged to make them thus 
prominent. I am rather inclined to believe that we here have to deal 
with a kind of decoration with inserted knobs, similar to those on the 
head in the lower left corner of the relief just described and especially 
evident on the nostrils and above the root of the nose of &, figure 134, 
which I have also taken from a relief of Cozumalhuapa. 

I will not enter into the details of dress and ornament, but I will 
only add that thereby the chief dignitaries of a tribe are evidently 
characterized, of whom there were always four among the Kiches 
and other Guatemala tribes, distinguished by special titles. Mr 
Dieseldorff, in describing the black-painted figure (cZ, plate xlviit), 
mentions that he wears bound on the back of the head " a pointed, 
checkered cap, such as chief priests usually w^ore ". I do not remem- 
ber to have found this described anywhere as the dress of a " chief 
priest ", nor to have seen it anywhere. The object projecting from 
the back of the neck of the chief personage /, advancing from the 
right, which looks like a staff, I will not venture definitely to interpret. 
It may be connected in some way with the ear ornament or Avith the 
back bow of the neck ornament. The ear ornament is sometimes of 
monstrous size on the figures of Maya art, one of the deities in the 
Maya manuscripts having an entire bird as an ear peg. 

The glyphs still remain to be discussed. Messrs Dieseldorff and 
Forstemann have numbered them as follows, according to their order 
in the picture : 



selerI 



THE VASE OF CHAMA 661 

4 6 7 10 12 1?> 16 

5 S 11 1-t 17 
9 15 18 



19 



20 

21 23 

22 



The last one, 23, is explained by Forstemann as a numeric expres- 
sion. It does, indeed, contain the numeral 8 and the element which 
in the Dresden manuscript and upon the Copan stek> denotes the 
period of 3G0 days, combined, it is true, with another element as yet 
unknown. Forstemann conjectures that the entire glyph is meant 
to indicate a period of 8 solar years. 

Glyph 12 may have a similar special meaning. It may possibly, 
in so far as the indistinct drawing admits of any recognition, denote 
the uinal Xul. The other glyphs, the groups 1, 2, 3 ; 4, 5, 6 ; 7, 8, 9 ; 
10, 11; 20, 21, 22; 13, 14, 15; 16, 17, 18, 19, would belong, respec- 
tively, to figures a, h, c, d, e,./, and g, beside which they stand. 
As to the significance of all these, only vague conjectures can be 
made. The special reference to food which Forstemann accepts for 
6 and 14 is more than questionable. The reference to the fire drill 
which he conjectures for 4, 17, 21 may stand, without justifying th- 
conclusions which he draws from the fact. From the entire order of 
arrangement I should conjecture that in each case the glyphs stated 
the title and name of the person in question; but, as we know 
nothing about either the one or the other, speculations concerning 
them al^e of little value. I am somewhat in sympathy with Diesel- 
dorff's definition of 1 and 10 as Ah-pop. In that case we should have 
a curiouslv reduced foi-m of Pop. 

Should'it be correct that 12 denotes the uinal Xul and 23 the period 
of 8 solar years, I might develop a theory which would accord very 
well with Forstemann*s fundamental assumption, although, of course, 
the interpretation of the principal conception moves along Avholly 
different lines. From the sixteenth day of uinal Xul to the first day 
of uinal Yaxkin, inclusive, the departure of Cukulcan was celebrated 
at Mani in Yucatan, and it was believed that during those days Cu- 
kulcan descended from heaven to receive gifts and homage in person. 
Xow, Cukulcan is Quetzalcoatl, and Quetzalcoatl is identified with 
Venus, and in /, plate xlviii, of our vase painting, we are reminded 
of Quetzalcoatl by the form of the beard. If the two glyphs, 
therefore, correspond to the periods indicated above, we should have 
here the revolution of Venus and the feast held in honor of the god 
who is identified with Venus, Quetzalcoatl-Ceacatl, the morning 
star, who appears and begins his course anew. This would then be 
the fundamental idea of our vase painting. 

The above would be my explanation if I had only / and the two 



662 BUEEAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

clyphs in question to take into consideration, and if I could be 
convinced of the exclusively astronomic purport of the manuscripts 
and of the myths of the Central Americans. But I think that all the 
personages, including /, exhibit so much realism and local color that 
we can not rest content with mere astronomy. This realism is like- 
Avise fully appreciated by Mr Forstemann. 

A certain analogy existing between the first person in the picture 
given above in rt, figure 133, and /, plate xlviii, of the vase picture, 
might admit of another explanation. The Maya races in Guatemala, 
as 1 have already shown in an earlier essay," were well acquainted 
with the Toltecs, the Yaqui-Vinak, and their god Quetzalcoatl. In 
the Popol Vuh the creative god is identified with Gucumatz, that 
is, Quetzalcoatl, and in one place he is actually called Ah-Toltecat, 
the Toltec. According to the traditions of the Guatemala tribes, 
as well as those of the Mayas of Yucatan, the ancestors of their races 
came from Tula, the city of the Toltecs. In a most valuable treatise 
upon the Toltec question Doctor Stoll '^ calls attention to the great 
part Avhich traveling Nahuatl merchants and the great hordes of 
Nahuatl nationality which crowded into these southern regions as 
traders and colonists must doubtless have played in Central America. 
Is it not possible that the painting on our vase illustrates the appear- 
ance of one of these tribal hordes, represented by their deity, in the 
midst of the native Maya population? There is undoubtedl}^ a cer- 
tain contrast between the figures on the right and those on the left 
of the picture. The arrangement and bearing of the different figures 
in the tAvo groups would seem entirely natural if we accept such a 
solution. Unfortunately, there is very little prospect of ever attain- 
ing positive knowledge in regard to questions of this sort. It is 
principally in Guatemala that we are very insufficiently or not -at all 
informed respecting the local ti-aditions and myths of the various 
tribes. Priests sent to Guatemala were forbidden b}?^ an absurd 
decree to teach Christianity to the Indians in their own language. 
Hence the priests took no interest in the language or in the traditions 
of the natives, and the later discovery of such interesting documents 
as the Popol Vuh can not wholly supply the absolute want of a 
medium of interpretation. Unfortunately, a Sahagun did not arise 
for the ancient races of Central America. 

In concluding these remarks I will add a few observations concern- 
ing the other vessels from Chama which Mr Dieseldorff has de- 
scribed. It is particularly worthy of notice that at least four of the 
vessels — the one first discussed, the one with the bat god (Verhand- 
lungen, 1894, plate xiii) , and the two vessels shown in plate xvi, Ver- 

« Verhandlungen, 1804, p. 578. 

^ Guatemala. Reisen unci Scliilderungen aus den Jahren, 1878-1883, Leipzig, 1886, 
pp. 408 to 412. 



SELElil 



THE VASE OP CHAMA 663 



hancllungen, 1893 — are proved by the style of the figures and glyphs, 
and especially by the pattern of decoration, to be allied to each 
other and evidently to have been made in the same place. The 
o-lyphs generally agree with the forms with which Ave are familiar 
in the Maya manuscripts and on the reliefs of Copan and Palenque 
without enabling us to connect them more closely Avith any one 
manuscript or relief. With regard to the figures, the god in the 
snail shell, occurring on two vessels, may at once be identified with 
the god who is regent of 7 Ahau in the Perez codex. I sent a 
drawing of this god to Mr Dieseldortf, which is reproduced in his 
first essay .'' I would, however, remark that this god does not hold a 
skull in iiis hand, but the head of the god with the proliferous nose, 
the god of increase and abundant Avater, whom I think I can identify 
with Ah Bolon Tzacab. The god in the snail shell is the third in the 
series of 20 deities in the Dresden manuscript He has no direct 
connection Avith the old god, D of Schellhas's nomenclature. This 
puts an end to the speculations in regard to the moon and the north. 
The relations of this old god to the moon are at least very doubtful. 

A youthful god is represented on one of the tAvo vessels, Avhich are 
reproduced in volume 25 of the Verhandlungen, plate xvi. The 
glyphs betAveen the two pictures of the god in the upper half of the 
decorated surface may be of value in determining this deity. These 
consist of two rectangles, each containing tAAO day signs. The first 
one, whch I haA^e reproduced in c, figure 134, undoubtedly contains 
the signs ben and ix." In the other, d, the loAver character is 
with equal certainty meant for Caban, Avhile the upper one is some- 
what more uncertain, but in my opinion it may, Avith tolerable prob- 
ability stand for Cib. Noav, as Ben and Ix both precede the charac- 
ter Men, while Cib, and Caban are the day signs immediately folloAV- 
ing it, it seems probable that the picture of the god betAveen the Iavo 
rectangles containing the glyphs is meant to represent or to express 
the sign Men, Avhich is missing between the tAvo pairs of day signs, 
as being a deity in some manner associated Avith it. 

Tavo rectangles containing glyphs occur on the other vessel, that 

represented in plate xvi, Avhich is decorated with the figure of the god 

' in the snail shell. One rectangle, /, figure 134, contains the same 

« Verhandlungen, 1893, p. 379, fig. 9. 

•' Ml- DieseMoi-Q; originally read these ben-imix, or, with reference to the three dots m 
the second sign, Imox. After receiving a communication from me he accepted my reading, 
p 376 of the Verhandlungen for 1894. But when he says there : " Ix, more correctly 
written hix (' iaguar')", I must observe that the Maya Ix corresponds to Iz or Itz of 
the Guatemalan tongue, and the latter means ■' magic ", or " magician ". In the latter 
sense it may take the prefix ah, the sign of the masculine gender, which gives us ah-itz, 
and in Maya, hix. But the latter is by no means necessary, and indeed we more fre- 
quently find the Maya character written Ix and Hix. The day sign Yiz, Ix, or Ah-ltz, IIix 
corresponds in Pipil to the character Teyolloquani ("the magician"). The latter word 
was undoubtedly allied in the old Indian conception to tequani, another word for Ocelotl 
("jaguar"), the Mexican name for this day sign. 



664 BUEEAU OF AMERTCAISr ETHNOLOGY [bdll. 28 

signs Ben and Tx in reverse order. In the other, e, I think I recognize 
without a doubt the day sign Oc. 

I am still doubtful about the upper character. But if we could as- 
sume that the same connection between the picture and the glyphs 
exists here that I have just proved to exist on the other vessel, we 
might read the upper character in e as Chuen, and we should then 
have in d Oc and Chuen, the two signs preceding Eb, in /, Ben and Ix, 
the two signs following Eb, and could therefore assume that the 
deity in tlie snail shell, who is twice repeated upon this vessel, is 
intended to represent or to express the day sign Eb. In that case we 
should have a very peculiar, hitherto unknown, form of the sign 
Chuen to deal- with. 

A third god is the bat god, who is also represented on two of the 
Dieseldorff vases. In an earlier article '^ I assembled wdiat informa- 
tion I had at hand regarding this deity and pointed out that special 
veneration was paid to it in Guatemala, among other places. I had at 
that time only very cursorily seen the glyphs accompanying the pic- 
ture of the bat god on the Dieseldorff vase. Opportunity now being- 
afforded by the publication of the drawing to study them carefully, I 
still consider the same reserve to be wise on my part which Mr Diesel- 
dorff maintains on his in regard to their interpretation. I will only 
remark that the picture of the bat, which is obvious in the glyph of 
the uinal Zotz and in the other glyphs reproduced there, does not 
appear here. If we designate the gh^phs, as in plate xiii, volume 26 
of the Verhandlinigen, by the numbers 1 to 6 from above downward, 
then glyph 1 appears to me to be the principal one. It contains the 
cloud masses of the cauac sign, which also occur everj^.vhere on the 
head of the bat in the glyphs on the Copan stela}.'' The second glyph 
may contain the skidl of the character Cimi. The third seems allied 
to the sixth, and both seem to contain the character Kan. The fifth 
contains the character Imix, together with another element, which, 
combined with Imix, occurs in another glyph on page 61 of the Dres- 
den manuscript. But I can offer no suggestion as to the actual mean- 
■ ing of all these glyphs. 

Mr Dieseldorff' has rendered to science a conspicuous service by his 
careful and expert excavations and by the publication of their results. 
Had there been the same careful and thorougli researches made in 
many different localities of Mexico and Central America, we might 
decide with much more certainty the problems which now occupy us, 
and we should more clearly comprehend the early history of these 
interesting ancient races. May Mr Dieseldorff' be enabled to continue 
his investigations and may equally active and equally successful 
workers come forward in other ])laces to increase our Icnowledge. 

« Verhnndlungen, v. 2G, 1894, pp. 577 and following. 
" Verhandlungen, v. 2G, 1894, pp. 583, 584. 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



BULLETIN 28, PLATE XLIX 





DESIGN ON A VASE FROM CHAMA 



A CLAY YESSEL WITH A PK^TURE OE A YAM- 
PIRE-HEADED DEITY' 



By E. p. Dieseldorff 



The accompanying drawing of the vampire god (plate xlix) occurs 
on a chiy vessel Avhich I found buried with a dead person on the sum- 
mit of a temple mound in Chama, together with urn 2, discussed in 
Verhandlungen, 1893, page 549, where I described the spot where it 
was found. 

The pot is cylinclric in form, about 55 centimeters in circumfer- 
ence, measured around the outer edge, and 15 centimeters in height. 
It was broken into many pieces, and the polish and painting are 
greatly damaged. It is to be noted that reddish black, droplike 
spots occur all over the pot, as if some resinous fluid had been sprin- 
kled over it with a brush. I have also observed similar spots on pots 
from the Zacapa region. 

In order to form a characteristic image of the vampire god we nuist 
direct our attention to his dress and to similar representations on 
the monuments of ancient Ma^^a civilization. 

The first thing that strikes us is that he wears the collar of the 
death god, showing the three round balls, which also appear on the 
cloaklike wings, and which Dr Eduard Seler, no doubt correctly, 
assumes to be human eyes. 

That an ornament of this kind should be given to the death god is 
entirely in keeping with the fact that the extinction of the eyesight 
in approaching dissolution is one of the most striking phenomena of 
death. 

In the temple at Copan which bounds the western court on the 
north, on the east side of the inner entrance, was the representation of 
a battle between the vampire god and Cukulcan, the god of light, 
which I am inclined to regard as morning twilight, the struggle 
between darkness and light. On the basis of this, supported by the 
fact that the vampire leaves his hiding place at tAvi light, I regard 

" Ein Thongeniss mit Dai'stellung einer vampyi'kopfigen Gottheit, Verhc-iudlungen dei- 
Berlinei- Gesellschaft flir Anthi-opologie, ELhnologie, und Urgeschichte, pp. 576-577, pub- 
lished in Zeitsclirift fur Ethnologic, 1894, pt. 6. 

665 



ijQQ BUREAU OF AMERTCAlSr ETHNOLOGY [boll. 28 

the bands of breath that shoot from his mouth as a symbol of sunset 
and dawn. It seems to me certain that this does not mean wind, with 
which force of nature this god has no connection, although I know 
that his glyph often occurs with Ben-Ik, which combination, however, 
refers to all birds, beasts, and gods whose life and dwelling is sup- 
posed to be the air. 

We may therefore regard the vampire god as the servant of death, 
the ruler of twilight. 

The god Cukulcan, ruler of air and light, and therefore of life, 
is represented in almost all the temple pictures and on the monoliths 
of Copan, sometimes with a human body, more frequently as a bird, 
also as a double snake. I will not at present enter more deeply into 
the reasons which have led me to this decision because the subject 
deserves treatment in a special paper. 

The glyphs belonging to the picture on this vessel afford us no 
solution, since we do not understand them ; the central glj^phs of plate 
a probably denotes the vampire god, since the dots appearing on the 
forehead remind us of the representations at Copan, where they 
occur in a similar manner. The central glyph of plate h occurs in 
the Dresden codex, page 61, at the bottom. 

I do not think that this clay vessel was prepared especially for 
burial, as I supposed in regard to the urns with a melon-shaped base. 
It seems to me rather to have served for religious purposes. 



NOTES AND EMENDATIONS BY DR EDUARD SELER 

Owing to the absence of Doctor Seler on an expedition to Mexico 
and Central America during the period in which his papers were 
going tlirough the joress, tlie proofs conld not be placed in his hands. 
On his return to Berlin, however, he kindly consented to prepare the 
accompanying notes, in which are incorporated such corrections and 
additions as he deemed most important : 

1 (page 22, line 4). My supposition that tlie Jesuit astronomer Don Carlos 
Siguenza y Gongora was the first who brought up the theory of an intercalation 
of thirteen days at the end of each period of fifty-two years was an erroneous 
one. The same opinion had been stated before him by Jacinto de la Serna, the 
author of Manual de Ministros de Indios, who, too, relied on former authorities.. 
It is quite probable that these were the same as those consulted by Siguenza. 
Nevertheless I have not been able to find a trace of a similar explanation from 
the contemporaries of Father Sahagun and his immediate successors. 

2 (page 34, line 3 from the bottom). I have lately changed my opinion in 
regard to the correspondence of colors and directions. I believe now that the 
correspondence given by Landa — that is to say, that yellow, red, white, and 
black represent, respectively, south, east, north, and west — was the generally 
accepted one, but that Landa did not connect in the right way the colors and 
their directions with the different years. He ascribed the colors and the direc- 
tions to the years next following their respective years, because in the last five 
days of a certain year the u-uayeyab, or evil demon, of this year was taken to 
the plaza of the village, and, after certain performances had taken place 
over him, was thrown out of the village in the dii'ection appropriated to the 
new year. Thus, for instance, the yellow demon of the south was set up in the 
last five days of the Cauac, or southern, years, and thrown out of the village in 
the direction east, appropriated to the new year, viz, the Kan j^ear. The pages 
SOb and 29b, 31d and 30d of the Troano codex, adduced by me in support of the 
theory I presented in my former paper, admit a different explanation. On the 
other hand, the very name given by Landa as designating the Ekel Bacab, or 
black Bacab — Hozan ek — is a proof that this Bacab and his coior are to be 
ascribed, as is done by Landa, to the western sky ; for Hozan ek is the name of 
the evening star. 

3 (page 35, line 6). In the later edition of this paper, reprinted in the first 
volume of my Gesammelte . Abhandlungen zur amerikanischen Sprach- und 
Alterthumskunde, page 530, and in another paper published in the same volume, 
pages, 367 to 389, I pointed out that not only the two signs of north and south, 
represented on pages 26 and 28 of the Dresden codex, but the whole lower parts, 
of these two pages, with the signs of north and south they contain, must be 
changed. ^ 

667 



668 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [boll. 28 

4 (page 36, line 14 from the bottom). The name, correctly spelled Ah bolon 
tz'acab, occurs in corresponding places in the different books of the Chilam 
Balam. 

5 (page 55, line G). Brinton, in his Native Calendar, drew attention to the 
fact that the name of this sign with the Yucatecs, as well as with the different 
Guatemalan tribes, means " thunder storm ", " thunder and lightning ". In the 
Zapotec language " thunder and lightning " are rendered bj' the term laha 
quiepaa que^a quiepaa, " flre on the sky, water on the sky ", and the verb " it 
thunders " is given by ti api nica, ti api laa, " water conies down, fire comes 
down ". It may be that this very api, " to come down ", is to be supposed to be 
contained in the Zapotec name of the nineteenth day sign. Ape, Appe, Aape, 
Gappe. The turtle may be identified with the cloud or the thunder storm, 
because the carapace of the turtle was generally used as a drum. The thunder 
is the " big drum of the heavens." 

6 (pages 68, line 10 from the bottom, and 117, line 5 from the bottom). As 
to the region to which the Vienna manuscript and the allied codices belong I 
have changed my opinion. I believe now that they originated in the territo- 
ries bordering the Gulf coast, inhabited by the people that are designated in the 
Aztec manuscript of Father Sahagun as Olmeca Uixtotin Mixteca. 

7 (pages 95, line 2, and 112, line 3 from the bottom). The comparison with 
the so-called relief tiles of Chiapas, preserved in the National Museum in the 
City of Mexico, ought not to be taken into consideration, as these relief tiles 
seem to be a fraud. 

8 (pages 157, line 27). The element generally explained as giving the idea 
xocoyotl, "the younger", is tiae yacaxiuitl, "blue (or turquoise) nose orna- 
ment ", the particular badge of the soul of the dead warrior, as it is represented, 
for example, by the mummy bundle built up at the time of the feast Tititl. ( See 
Codex Magliabecchiano, page 72, XIII, 3, edited by the Due de Loubat.) The 
hieroglyph giving the name Motecuhzoma xocoyotzin is in fact designative of the 
soul of the dead warrior or dead king, which may have been in some way 
identified by the Mexicans with the fire god. ( See my Gesammelte Abhandlungen 
zur amerikanischen Sprach- und Alterthumskunde, 1904, volume 2, pages 731 to 
738 and 742 to 745.) 

9 (page 179, line 4). The figure in question is more correctly designated 
Tlauizcalpan Tecutli, " god of the morning star ". (See my paper on the Venus 
Period in Picture Writings of the Borgian Codex Group, pages 355 and follow- 
hig.) Camaxtli, the war god of the Tlaxcaltees, was, it seems to be beyond 
question, a very near relative of the god of the morning star, wearing the same 
color of the body and the same facial painting as the morning star. 

10 (page 287, last line). The confrontation indicated in the text is not to be 
taken into consideration, as pages 1 and 2 of the Tonalamatl of the Aubin Col- 
lection seem to be a fabrication, attribvitable to Leon y Gama, the author of 
the well-known book Las Dos Piedras, or to one of his contemporaries. 

11 (page 293, line 16). It has become a matter of doubt to me whether the 
words " corazon del pueblo" are in all cases to be identified with the Mexican 
Tepeyollotl. There might be applied to it the more simple meaning of " life of 
the sky " or " tribal god ". As to the idol fetish of the town of Achiotla. the 
sculpture on its surface, described by Father Burgoa, points to the name 
Quetzalcoatl, who. it seems, ought not to be identified offhand with Tepeyollotl. 

12 (page 312, line 28). I have of late become more doubtful regarding even 
the meaning and the origin of those compounds of radiant eyes, and am now 
inclined to retain for them the character of luminous objects in general and 
particularly of stars. Doctor Preuss has lately identified them with the butter- 



sbler] 



NOTES AND EMENDATIONS 669 



fly as an image of fire. This is in a certain way proved l)y the particuhir form 
which these radiant eyes assume on certain monuments of Mexican construction. 
(See the account of the quauhxicalli, "dish for sacrificial l)lo()d ", of the 
National Museum in the City of Mexico in my Gesammelte Abhandlun.t,'en zur 
amerilvanischen Sprach- mid Alterthumskunde, 1904, volume 2, page Sll.) But 
here, too, the coincidence might be explained in a different way — that is to say, 
by the supposition that the Mexicans by this form tried to transform tlic star 
symbol, which, perhaps, was handed over to them l)y the astronomer-i)riests of 
the eastern tribes, into a symbol more in accordance with Mexican thought i\nd 
Mexican pictorial style. As to the true meaning of these eyes and the faces 
by which in fragments II to XI of our Mitla wall paintings the eyes are 
replaced, it is an important fact that in fragment V the faces surrounded by 
eyes, which are seen looking down from the sky, are painted with the quincunx, 
the facial painting of the morning star. The interpretation I gave of the 
border of which these eye-surrounded luminous faces form part, viz, that this 
border represents the eastern sky, is proved by this to l>e true. 

13 (page 342, line 2). The plain on which the houses of the village of 
Tepoxtlan are built is the bottom of a huge crater, the borders of which sur- 
round the plain on the north and south sides of the village. 

14 (page 344, line 8). On my recent trip to Mexico, in October and Novem- 
ber, 1904, I took the opportunity to visit Tepoxtlan, in order to make molds of 
the sculptures that adorn the walls of the cella. I there assured myself that 
the walls of the pyramid are plainly visible from the village site, being dis- 
tinguished by their white color from the surrounding mountain crest. 

15 (page 346, line 5). On visiting Tepoxtlan I saw that it is not a picture of 
the sun that is seen on the pillars walling the entrance to the cella, but the 
lower part of a huge glyph of the chalchiuitl, or green precious stone. 

16 (page 366, line 20). I was mistaken in assuming that the day sign Cipactli, 
on page 25 of the Borgian codex, is placed beside the god C (figure 94), who, 
by the striped white body coloring and the deep black painting around the 
eyes, resembles Tlauizcalpan Tecutli, the divinity of the morning star. It 
escaped my notice, when I first brought together the material handled in this 
article, that on page 25 of the Borgian codex it is indicated by red lines in what 
manner the day signs are to be connected with their corresponding figures. 
By these red lines the sign Cipactli is appointed to the figure in the upper 
corner on the right-hand, who, by his long beard and general appearance, 
resembles the god E (figure 94). This god is consequently to be considered 
as the representative of the east, and the figure resembling Tlauizcalpan 
Tecutli, the divinity of the morning star, corresponds to the north. The latter 
figure is, in fact, not the morning star represented in a special role. It is 
an image of Mixcuatl, the god of the chase, the god of the Chichimecs, who 
is not identical, it is true, with the morning star, but must be regarded as 
very nearly related to him. I explained this more in detail in the revision of 
this article, published in my Gesammelte Abhandlungen zur amerikanischen 
Sprach- und Alterthumskunde, 1902, A'olume 1, pages 618 to 667, and in the 
first volume of my interpretation of the Borgian codex, 1904, pages 259 to 265. 

17 (page 367, line 15). As I pointed out in the foregoing note, the god with 
the heavy beard and eyebrows and the bicolored, half red, half black, face 
painting, must be regarded as the lord of the first division, or the east; Xipe 
Totec, consequently, as the lord of the third division, or the west, and Tlaloc 
as the lord of the fourth division, or the south. 

18 (page 369, line 8). As to this point, too, I came recently to another inter- 
pretation. I believe now— and I explained these figures in this way in 



670 ■. BUEEAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 

volume 1 of my interpretation of the Borgian codex — that the first two rows 
of divinities are constructed witlj regard to the planet Venus as morning star, 
and consequently refer to the east ; but that the two latter rows are constructed 
with regard to the evening star, and refer to the west. The east is the region 
of the warriors, that is, of the sacrificed ; the west, that of the women. In 
the first two regions we have, therefore, representations of sacrifice ; in the 
latter two, representations referring to childbirth and nursing. The tearing 
out of the yellow stripe ending in flowers and precious stones I am inclined to 
consider now as a figurative expression of childbirth, since it is very common 
in Mexican figurative speech to allude to a newly born child by the names of 
precious feathers or precious stones. 

19 (page 369, last line). In conformity with the view expressed in the fore- 
going note, I am now inclined to accept the nursing of the female deities simply 
as that which it is, i. e., the nursing of a child. 

20 (page 371, line 25). I repeat that h and d, figure 95, as well as c and d, 
figure 94, represent not the morning star himself but the morning star in his 
special role of hunting god and war god ; that is to say, the god Mixcuatl, or 
Camaxtli. 

21 (page 389, line 25). I am now inclined to assume another correspondence 

of these five spear-throwing gods with the five directions, supposing that each 

of these divinities was allotted to the quarter just opposite to that where lives 

the demon at whom he throws the spear. On this supposition, the black god 

would occupy the region of the west, throwing his spear at the god of festivity 

in the east; this black god, consequently, would correspond to the god Xipe of 

page 25 of the Borgian codex. The red rain god of the second period, throwing 

his spear at the jaguar in the north, would then own the region of the south and 

correspond to the rain god of the Borgian codex. The god with the animal face, 

who throws his spear at the maize god, that is, to the west, must correspondingly 

belong to the east and be identified with the god with the heavy beard and 

eyebrows and the bicolored, half red, half black, face who stands in the upper 

right corner of the page in the Borgian codex. And the warrior with the face 

painting resembling that of the Mexican Tezcatlipoca, who throws his spear 

at the sun-bearer, the turtle, the symbol of the kings, must correspond to the 

Chichimec god Mixcuatl of the Borgian codex, god of the north. The fifth and 

last divinity is the god with the beady eyes, who, I said, must symbolize the 

lower region, or tl:;e earth. He throws his spear at the warrior, that is, the 

J, 
inhabitants of thQ upper world, of the heavens, where the dead warriors go 

(see my interpretau: of the Borgian codex, 1904, volume 1, pages 327 to 336). 



I]^DEX 



Acalan, female deity worshipped 



intiabitants of 

visited by Cortes 

Acalans, worship among 

AcatI (reed), Mexican year sign_ 



Page. 

81 
79 
78 
82 
24. 
25, 26, 27, 33, 47 

Achiotlan, holy city of Mixtecs 292-293 

idol at ^ 292-293,668 

oracle at 292 

Acompanados, the nine " lords of 

the night " 18 

Ahau, Maya day sign 26. 

27, 30, 33, 35, 36, 54 

Ahpula, date of death of 332 

Akbal, Maya day sign 26, 33, 34, 35 

Alta Vera Paz, ancient inhabitants 

of 101 

characteristics of 78 

Alva Ixtlilxochitl, Juan de, paper 

belonging to 20 

Amatitlan, toothed vessels of 77 

Ambras, collection at castle of 59, 73 

Anales de Quauhtitlan, account of 
light of planet Venus 

. in- 384-385 

ornaments ascribed to Quetz- 

alcouatl in 60 

Andagoya on dress in Nicaragua 612 

Antequera, settlement of 260 

Antiquities, Maya, comparative 
studies of, paper on, 

by P. Schellhas 591-622 

no uniform type among 621 

Zapotec, bearing of, on myth- 
ical conceptions 302-305 

Architecture in Guatemala 81 

Arm ornaments, Maya 606-607 

Atemoztli, Mexican feast 23 

Atlcaualco, as first month of Mexi- 
can year I39 

Aubin-Goupil collection, figure of 

Axayacatl in 59, 60 

papers of Siguenza contained 

in 20 

shield in 64 

synopsis of, by E. Boban 60, 64 

Auitzotl, King, glyph of, in temple 

of Tepoxtlan 347 

Axayacatl, figure of, in Aubin- 
Goupil collection 60 

in war against Moquiuix 61 

Xipe dress worn by 62, 

63, 64, 65, 67, 69 



Azcapotzalco, Mexicans .freed from, 

by Itzcouatl 

Bancroft, H. H., on Maya dress_ 



Page. 

61 
602, 
603, 617 



266 
241 



235 



233 



Banner of Axayacatl and Bilimec 

warriors 

Bastian, Adolph, on the " geo- 
graphical province "_ 

Bat god, corresponds to east 

cult of, limited to Maya and 

Zapotec-Mixtec 

drawing of, sent by Dieseldorff 
to Anthropological 

Society 

glyph of 238-241 

names of 234 

of the Maya, paper on, by Ed- 

uard Seler 233-241 

on vase excavated by Dies- 
eldorff 241 

Beard, depicted in Maya manu- 
scripts 599-600 

in Mexico 658-659 

Becker, P. J., Mixtec manuscripts 

in collection of 64 

Been, Chiapanec or Maya year 

sign 24, 

26, 27, 33, 34, 35, 40, 47 
Benito, Pray, idol at Achiotlan de- 
stroyed by 

Berendt, C. H., books of Chilan 
Balam prepared by_ 

on Lacandons 

Berlin Anthropologicri Society, 
drawing ^^ painted 

vessel .c to 

report of Dieseldorffs work 

published by 

Bernal Diaz, on date of Cortfe's en- 
trance into Mexico- _ 
on expedition of Cortes to 

Honduras 78, 79, 80 

on Zagoatan in Tabasco 81 

Bibliography, Maya _ 537-538 

Biblioteca Laurenziana, figure from 
Sahagun manuscript 



>92-293 



27, 329 

80 



87 



140 



132 



Biblioteca Nazionale at Florence, 
picture manuscript 
in 59, 60. 72 

Bilimec collection, painting in 60, 

62, 63, 64, 65, 67 
Bill for provisions from Mizqui- 

yauallan 196-200 



671 



672 



INDEX 



Page. 

Bill of complaint, Indian 210-212 

Biologia Centrali-Americana 575 

Blood offering among Zapotecs 277 

Boban, E., synopsis of Auliin- 

Goupil collection by_ 60, 64 , 

Bolon Zacab, Maya god 34, 46,,668 

Bones, use of, in making imple- 
ments 658 

Boturini Bernaducci, Cavaliei'e 
Lorenzo, Museo Indi- 

ano of 128 

on fragments iii and iv of 

Humboldt collection- 176-178 
Signenza's papers in posses- 
sion of 20 

Boturini collection, fragments of 
Humboldt collection 

attributed to 190, 

196, 200, 217, 221, 227-228 
Bowditch, C. P., study of native 
American writing 

promoted by 9 

translation of papers on na- 
tive American writ- 
ing directed by 10 

Bowls, circular, of Amatitlan 110 

Bradley, Chan Santa Cruz visited 

by 633 

Brasseur de Bourbourg, Abbe, 
Lauda manuscript 

discovered by 501 

on blessing of the fields: 43 

on dress of American In- 
dians 603 

on morning star 321 

Brinton, D. G., books of Chilan 

Balam owned by 27 

Chilan Balam published by__ 329 

glyph on vessel reproduced 

by _ 111 

on relation of glyphs to 

meaning of word 517 

on sign Cauac 668 

Buildings, magnificence of, in Za- 

potec country 248 

Burgoa, Father, on harvest cere- 
mony at Quiecolani- 300 
on house of high priest at 

Mitla _ 249-252, 253-254, 255 
on human sacrifice among 

Zapotecs 277 

on idol at Achiotlan 292, 668 

on intercalary days 19 

on marriage of Mexican prin- 
cess and Zapotec 

king Cocijoeza 264 

on Mixtec cave burial 248 

on southern migration of Za- 
potecs 261 

on Zapotec expiation of sin 278-280 

on Zapotec high priest 248 

on Zapotec priest pupils 277 

on Zapotec priests 275, 276 

(?aban, Maya day sign 33. 50, 51, 52 

Cacique, office of, among the 

Mayas „.,„ 630 



Page. 
Cahabon, characteristics and lan- 
guage of 88 

Calendar, Central American, in- 
vention of, ascribed 

to Toltecs 327 

paper on, by B. Forste- 

mann 515-519 

Maya, baffling points in 4 75 

dates of 402-407 

nature of 327 

significance of, in historic 
chronology, paper on, 

by Eduard Seler 325-337 

III 2; 13, 3d month, 

explanation of 477 

Mexican, origin in Zapotec 

country 55 

table illustrating 136 

Zapotec 36-54, 266-267, 268 

four sections of, referred 

to rain god :__ 268-269 

initial days of four quar- 
ters according to- — 25 

Calendars, Central American. 150 

Calli (house), Mexican year sign_ 24, 

25, 26, 27, 33 

Camaca, estate of Motecuhzoma_ 155, 

157-15S 

Camaxtli, Tlaxcaltec war god 179, 

668, 670 
Campur, cave in, excavated by 

Sapper 80-90 

Canek, cacique of Peten, visited 

by Cortes 78 

Cannibalism among Mexicans and 

Zapotecs 278 

Cardmal points, colors for 31-33, 667 

glyphs for 27-85 

in Zapotec calendar 38 

symbol of 132-13: 

Carrillo y Ancona, Crescentio, on 
vessel found at 

Puerto Progreso 108-109 

Castaiieda, B., collection of — 113 

Cauac, Maya glyph 53, 54, 668 

Maya year sign 24, 

26, 27, 28, 33, 34, 35, 667 
Cave burial among Zapotecs and 

Mixtecs 247-248 

Cazuelas, three-footed dishes 92 

Ceamay, cave in, excavated by 

Sapper 90 

Chac, Maya god of rain and thun- 
der 22. 

31. 32, 34, 40. 46, 51, 52 
Chalca, subjugated by Motecuhzo- 

ma the elder 61 

Chalcatongo. cave of. burial place 

of Mixtec kings 248 

Chama, Maya ruins near 86. 87, 88 

two vases from, papers on, by 
DieseldorfC, Seler, 

and Forstemann 635-(,..r 

Chan Santa Cruz, sacred city of 

eastern Mayas i -'6. 

628, 629, 630, 633, 034 



INDEX 



673 



Page. 
Charencey, C int de, vocabulary 

by 50 

Charnay, D., sacrificial vessels 
found by, at Menche 

Tinamit 83 

vessels from Tabasco placed 
in Trocadero Museum 

by 90 

Chiapas, as an industrial center— ■ 110 

Lacandons in 80 

Chiatzam, collections from 90 

Chibiras, Zapotec goddess 50 

Chichen Itza, fall of 336-337 

ruins of ^^'^ 

Chilan Balam, books of, assign- 
ment of Maya year 
to cardinal points in 27 

chronology in 330-331 

initial day of Maya year 

in — - 26 

nature of 321) 

sixteenth Zapotec day 

sign in 49 

Chimalli stone from Cuernavaca_ 6-1 

Chimalpahin, on date of Cortes's 

entrance into Mexico 140 

on death of Quauhtemoc 159-160 

on San Antonio Pimentel 

Tlauitoltzin 194 

Chinax, Chiapanec year sign 24 

Chixoy, valley of, ruins in 86 

Chols, characteristics and lan- 
guage of 81-83 

described by Dominican monks 82-83 

fate of 82 

location of 80 

Chronica de la S. Provincia del 
Santissimo Nombre 
de Jesus de Guate- 
mala, 1683 19 

Chronology, Maya, paper on, by B. 

Porstemann 473-489 

Mexican, early, contradictions 

in 332—333 

how reckoned 134-139 

in early history 330 

paper on, by Bduard 

Seler 11-55 

peculiarities of 13 

Ciclografia Mexicana, lost work 
by Siguenza y Gon- 

gora 20 

Cipactli, Mexican day sign 25, 

26, 366, 369 
Civilization, degree of, in Vera 

Paz 110 

Central American, character- 
istics of 596-597 

source of - 621-622 

Maya, modern 628-634 

relation of to Aztec civil- 
ization 540-543 

Mexican and Central Ameri- 
can, unity of 266-274 



Clavigero, on beginning of time 

cycle 

on intercalary days 

Cloaks used by iNIayas 

Coatl, Mexican day sign. 



Page. 

25 

20 

611 

42 



Cocij, Zapotec time period of 13 

days 271 

Cocijo, Zapotec god of rain, etc 267, 300 

Cocijoeza, marriage of, with Mexi- 
can princess 264 

Codex, Borgian, demon Xolotl in — 46 

Mexican chronology in 21 

pictures of bat god in 235-237 

rain god in 38, 269-270 

Tezcatlipoca represented in __ 68 

tiger drumskin in 67 

Xolotl represented in . — 65 

Codex, Boturini, glyph in 60 

Codex. Cortes, cardinal points in_ 28, 29, 31 

glyph in 52 

nineteenth Zapotec day sign 

in 53 

Codex, Cozcatzin, figures in 60, 

61, 63, 64, 65, 67 
Codex, Dresden : 

black Chac in 40 

celestial shields in 95 

computation from zero point 

in 35-36 

computation of time in 20 

explanation of page 24 of 431-443 

pages 25 to 28 477 

pages 31a to 32a 455-461 

pages 46 to 50 387-389 

pages 51 to 58 and 71 

to 73 445-453 

pages 61 to 64 and 69 

to 73 409-422 

series of numbers, pages 

51 to 58 463-472 

glyphs in 31. 51, 52, 54, 438-443 

initial day of Mexican year in 26-27 

numbers and dates in 397-407 

numbers in 433-437 

page 24, astronomic problem 

on 431 

copy of 432 

tenth Zapotec day sign in 45 

Codex, Fejervary, pictures of bat 

god in 235 

Codex, Mendoza, tribute of cities 

of Mixteca in 144 

Codex. Perez, celestial shields in — 95 

computation of time in 21 

Codex Telleriano-Remeusis, begin- 
ning of time cycle in 25 
figure of member of Jalisco 

tribe in 74 

marriage of Mexican princess 

with Cocijoeza in 264 

Mexican flag festival in 131 

seventeenth Zapotec day sign 

in 50 

Tepeolotlec in 291 



7238— No. 28—05- 



674 



INDEX 



Page. 

Codex, TroatiOjL animal traps in 53 

blaclj Cbac in 40 

colors for cardinal points in 32 

glyphs in 30,51,52 

inversion of true order of 

glyphs in 33 

Codex Vaticanus A, Mexican flag 

festival in 131 

seventeenth Zapotec day sign 

in 50 

Tezcatlipoca represented in 59 

war dress in 61-62 

"Codex Vaticanus B, demon Xolotl 

in 46 

pictures of hat god in 235 

rain god in cardinal 

points in 38 

Codex, Vergara, village statistics 

in 201, 202, 206 

Codex, Vienna, cited 48 

region of 668 

Cogolludo, on length of Katun 329 

on Maya dress 602, 609, 611 

on second Zapotec day sign 40 

Collars, Maya 613-617 

Commandments, Ten, and Creed, 
in fragment XVI of 
Humboldt collection- 221-227 
Congress of Americanists at Ber- 
lin, exhibit of Hum- 
boldt collection at 128 

Constellations, Mexican, relation of 

to cardinal points 356-358 

Cooking, importance of among 

Mexicans 214 

Copa pitao, Zapotec name of 

ordinary priests 276 

Copan, architecture at 81 

Chorti near 81 

excavations near 77 

prosperity of 82 

Copenhagen, museum at. clay ves- 
sel from Peten in 83 

clay vessel from Tabasco 



Coqui-Cilla, Zapotec deity 284, 285, 286 

Coqui-Nij, Zapotec deity 285 

Coqui-Xee, Zapotec deity 284, 285, 286 

Cordova. Juan de. on animals in 

Zapotec calendar 43 

on human sacrifice among Za- 

potecs 278 

on Zapotec calendar 37 

on Zapotec day signs 271, 272-273 

on Zapotec expiation of sin 278 

on Zapotec omens 42 

on Zapotec religion 284 

on Zapotec time signs 267 

Zapotec calendar recorded in 

grammar of 36 

Zapotec language taken up by 41 
Cortes, agreement on dates of, in 

Mexico 140-144 

expedition of, to Honduras, 

1525 78-79 

on Zagoatan in Tabasco 81 



Page. 
Coslahan tox, demon of the 

Tzental-Zotzil 43 

Cozaana, Zapotec creation deity __ 288 

Cozcaquauhtli, Mexican day sign_ 25, 48, 49 

Creation, god and goddess of 286-289 

Mixtec legend of 289-290 

Creed and Ten Commandments in 
fragment XVI of 
Humboldt collection- 221-227 
Cronica Franciscana, Guatemalan, 

nemontemi in 23-24 

Zapotec day signs in 47, 48 

Cronica Mexicana of Tezozomoc, ad- 
monitions regarding 
the stars to Motecuh- 
zoma Xocoyotzin in_ 355 

Cuetzpalin, Mexican day sign 41, 65 

Cukulcan, Maj^a god of light 665, 666 

Cumku, Maya month 26, 27, 33, 35 

L>ate, ^ori^al, in Maya computation 328-329 

477 

35-36 

13 

13, 15 



274 
40,43 



476 



493 



Day, Maya, designation of 

XIII 20, prominence of 

Day signs, Mexican, in harmony 

with Maya 

method of reckoning 

tables illustrating 

Zapotec 37-54, 271-274 

relation of, to Mexican 

and Maya signs 

Tzental-Zotzil 

Days, 17 intercalated, among the 

Mayas 

origin of series of 20. among 

the Mayas 

series of 20, first day of 475-476 

Deities, female, of Acalan, Ta- 
basco, and Tixchel 81-82 

identification of 33-34 

minor Zapotec 801-302 

Deity, Zapotec creative, character- 
istics of 284-289 

names of 284 

Del Castillo, Cristobal, notes by__ 18 

Del Rio, Antonio, ruins of Pa- 

lenque studied by 547 

DieseldorfE, E. P., collection of, 

heads of sun god in_ 99 

incense spoon handle in_ 93-94 

example of 121 

excavations at La Cueva by__ 103 

excavations at Panquip by 107 

excavations in Alta Vera Paz 

under direction of 78 

on meaning of Mol 429 

on vessel from Chama 97 

researches by, in Central 

America 539-540 

Dominical letters, Maya 17, 34 

Dorenberg, Mixtec manuscripts in 

collection of 64 

Dos Piedras. by Leon y Gama, last 
five days of Mexican 

.vear in 18 

Dr^ss in war of Mexican kings__ 61-62, 69 

Maya, characteristics of 601- 

603, 607-613 



INDEX 



675 



Page. 

Durftn, atlas of, plume in 63 

bat dancer in T- 

on cipactli 39 

■ on last five days of Mexican 

year 1'^ 

Ear ornaments, Maya 613-617 

Eb, Maya day sign 33 

Ehecatl, Mexican wind god 133-134 

(wind), second Mexican day 

sign 40, 134 

Etzalqualiztli, festival of Mexican 

rain god Tlaloc 23, 

129, 132, 135, 136 
Excavations near Copan and in 

Alta Vera Paz 77-78 

Exhibition, American Historical, 

at Madrid, 1892 77, 83 

Expiation, Zapotec ceremony of_- 278-280 

Zapotec symbols of 281-283 

Exposition, Columbian, vessel from 
Ecuadorian exhibit 

at 83 

Ezanab, Maya day sign— 26, 33, 34, 35, 52 
Fabrega, on seven suppressed days 
in reckoning Mexi- 
can time 21 

Face masks on Lacandon ves- 
sels 84-85 

Fans, use of, among Mayas and 

Mexicans 651-654 

Feather ornament, Mexican, con- 
jecture concerning — 73 

how worn 74 

Feather ornaments, ancient Mexi- 
can, paper on, by Ed- 

uard Seler 59-74 

Feathers, use of, in holiday dress_ 172-173 
Fernandez, Francisco, on Maya 

day gods 559 

Figure fragments, Guatemalan — 95-99 

Figure vessels from La Cueva 103-104 

from Vera Paz 107 

Finger joints in vessels found at 

La Cueva 105-106 

Flags, use of, among Mexicans 131 

Foot gear, Maya 603 

Forstemann, E., computation of 

dates by 20 

Maya calendar studied by 327, 

328, 330 

on glyph of planet Venus 311, 371 

on Mexican computations on 

planet Venus 364, 375 

on Mexican year signs 26-27 

on reckoning from zero point- 35 
on tablets in Maya manu- 
scripts 101 

studies of Maya calendar and 

chronology by 596 

Gama. See Leon y Gama. 
Garcia, Gregorio, Mixtec creation 

legend told by 289-290 

Geinelli Carreri, Siguenza's Ciclo- 
' grafla Mexicana re- 
ferred to by 20 



Page. 
(Jlyphs, on Chamft vase_ P60-662, 663-664 
on vessel in Castafieda col- 
lection 114-121 

use of, in Humboldt collec- 
tion of Mexican pic- 
ture writings 228 

Guatemalan ■ 88 

Zorita on 88 

Maya, interpretation of 503-504, 

505-513 
papers on, by E. Forste- 
mann 499-513 

Gods, day, of the Mayas, paper on, 

by E. Forstemann 557-572 

Maj'a, and their respec- 
tive days— 560-569, 570-572 

pulque, Mexican 347-352 

names of S'S.i 

Zapotec, in relation to cal- 
endar 290-291 

Golfo Dulce, expedition of Cortes 

to 78 

Gomara, on names of cities, in 

Acalan 79 

in Mazatlan 80 

Goupil, Eugene, Aubin collection 

owned by 20 

Goupil-Boban atlas, village statis- 
tics in 201-202, 204, 206 

Government of independent Maya 

States 626,630-632 

Grass rope, symbolism of, among 

Zapotecs 280-283 

Guatemala, antiquities of, paper 

on, by Eduard Seler_ 75-121 
Gunckel, L. W., on reading Maya 

manuscripts 548 

Haebler, K., Maya bibliography by 537 
Hair, how worn by Mexican war- 
riors 162-163 

Hand rollers, Guatemalan 91 

Headdress depicted on pottery 117-118 

Maya 617-620 

Hernandez, on tlaca-xolotl 94 

Herrera, on Maya dress 603 

High priest, Zapotec 248 

house of 249-252 

Historia de los Mexicanos por sus 
Pinturas, Mexican 

creation myth in 24 

Hochstetter, on Mexican feather 

ornament 60, 68, 73-74 

on standard of feather orna- 
ment 66 

Holmes, W. H., cited on Mexican 

archeology 543 

study of glazed vessels from 

Zoncuautla by 109 

Honduras, British, invasion of, by 

Icaiche Indians 627 

Horse of Cortes, worshipped at 

Peten 94 

Huamantla, fragments III and IV 
of Humboldt collec- 
tion found at 178 



676 



INDEX 



Page. 
Huaxteca, gesture inviting to eat 

in 30 

Huechaana (Huicliaana), Zapotec 

creation deity 288-289 

Humboldt, Alexander von, Mexican 
picture writings of, 
paper on, by Eduai-d 

Seler 123-229 

on fragment II of Mexican 

picture writings 154-155 

on fragment VI of Mexican 

picture writings 190 

on purchase of fragment II of 
collection of Mexi- 
can picture writings 127-128 
on seated figures in fragment 
VI of Mexican pic- 
ture writings 192-193 

on symbolism of tongue 162 

theory of Fabrega supported 

by 21 

Icaiche, southern Maya town 626, 

627, 628, 629, 630, 633, 634 
Ichcanzihoo, Spanish victory at, 

date of 331 

Ik. See Ix. 

Imix, Maya day sign, meaning 

of 40 

Imperial Museum of Natural His- 
tory at Vienna, Mex- 
ican feather orna- 
ment in 59 

Incense, burning of, among Zapo- 

tecs 277 

pouch of Mexican priests 146-147 

spoons 92-94 

Intercalary days, in Mexican year. 
See Year, Mexican. 

13, after 52 years 20-21, 667 

25, after 104 years 21 

Intercalation, in Maya calendar 328-329 

Interpretation of device worn by 
Axayacatl and Bili- 

mec warrior 67-68 

Itzaex, idolatry of 45, 82 

Itzamna, Maya god 35 

Itzcouatl, Mexicans freed from 

Azcapotzalco by 61 

Ixcozauhqui, flre god of Tlatelolco_ 68 
Itzcuintli, Mexican day sign, in- 
terpretation of 44 

Ix, Maya year sign 24, 

26, 27, 28, 83, 34, 35, 40, 47 

Ixchebelyax, Zapotec goddess 50 

Ixchel, Zapotec earth goddess 50, 51 

Ixkanha, southern Maya town_ 626, 

627, 628, 629, 630, 634 

Ixtlilxochitl, codex attributed to 59 

on population of Tezcuco 192 

Kakupacat, Maya god . 40 

Kan, Maya year sign 24,26,27, 

28, 33, 34, 35, 40, 41, 42, 45, 667 

Katuns in Maya calendar 329-330 

Kayab, Maya tortoise month, im- 

portiint days in 426 

Kinchahau, Maya god 34, 35 



Page. 
Kingsborough, fragments I and II 
of Mexican picture 
writings in work of_ 128 

Lacandons, characteristics and 

language of 80-81 

described by Sapper 82 

worship of 82 

La Cueva, fiagments from 103-105 

plan of 103 

Lamat, Maya day sign 26, 33, 34, 35, 44 

Lambat, Chiapanec year sign 24 

Landa, Diego de, discovery of man- 
uscript by 501 

on beginning of Maya year 446 

on colors for cardinal points- 31, 

32, 667 

on initial day of Maya year 26, 27 

on last five days of Mexican 

year 17 

on length of katun 329 

on Maya dress : 601-602, 

603, 607, 608, 609, 611 

on Maya headdress 617 

on Maya human sacrifices 276-277 

on Maya New Year 22-23 

on physical characteristics of 

Mayas 599 

Zac Ziui mentioned by 50 

La Serna, Jacinto de, on interca- 
lary days 667 

Las Pacayas. See Panquip. 
Lawsuit illustrated in fragment 
VI of Humboldt col- 
lection 193-195 

Leap year, theory of, in comput- 
ing Mexican time 18-19 

Leg, dress and ornamentation of, 

among Mayas 604-605 

Leon, Nicolas, Cordova's grammar 

republished by 36 

Leon y Gama, Antonio de, frag- 
ment II of Mexican 
picture writings from 

collection of 127-128 

on beginning of Mexican year_ 17-18 
on last five days of Mexican 

year 18 

theory of intercalation in Dos 

Fiedras of 21 

tonalamatl of Aubin collec- 
tion, pages 1 and 2, 

attributable to 668 

Ijery, on use of flre fan in Bra- 
zil 652 

Lords of the cycle among the 

Mayas 493 

Lords of the night 18 

Mac, Maya month 43 

Macuilxochic, buildings at 298-300 

Maler, Teobert, investigations in 

Y'ucatan by 543 

Malinalli, twelfth Mexican day 

sign 134 

Manik, Maya day sign 30,33 

Mars, revolution of. relation of, 

to Maya chronology 497 



INDEX 



677 



Page. 
Maudslay, A. P., Central American 

ruins studied by 640 

contributions to Central Amer- 
ican archffiology by_ 538-539 
glazed face jar from Copan 

copied by 109 

on figures on stelae of Copan_ 81 

on Temple of Cross No. 2 at 

Palenque 583 

Maya investigations, recent, papers 

on, by B. Forstemann 535-543 

Mayapan, destruction of 334-337 

Mayas, custom of, at feasts 109 

names of treatises by E. 

Forstemann on 503 

nationality preserved by 82 

independent, Character of 632 

Mazatl, " deer," seventh Mexican 

day sign 65, 134 

Mazatlan, visited by Cortes 79 

Melchior Rodriquez, Lancandons 

met by 80-81 

Merida, bishop of. See Carrillo y 
Ancona. 

founding of, date of 331-332 

Mexico, last native rulers of 160-170 

Miller, Chan Santa Cruz visited 

by 632-633 

Millstones, Guatemalan, Sapper on_ 90-91 

Miquiztli, Mexican day sign 25 

Mitla, description of 247-257 

subjugated by Mexicans 262 

San Pablo de, church of 257 

Mixcuatl, god of chase 669, 070 

Mixteca, intercalary days in year 

of 19 

Mizquiyauallan, bill from 196-200 

receipt from 214-215 

Moan, Maya cloud spirit 43, 44 

Molina, on last five days of Mexi- 
can year 17 

Monte Sacro, shrine of Amaqueme 154, 175 
Montejo, Francisco de, aid of 

Cortes sought by 625 

Moon worship, among Zapotecs 300 

Moquiuix in Aubin-Goupil collec- 
tion 60 

Motecuhzoma, glyphic designation 

of elder and younger 156, 668 

origin of name of 157 

the elder, Mexican dominion 

extended by 61 

the younger, estate of 155-156 

picture of 155 

war dress of 62,64,69 

Motolinia on intercalary days 19 

Mounds, Indian burial, in Guate- 
mala 77 

Muhlenpfordt, E., plan of build- 
ings at Mitla by 252, 256 

Muluc, Maya year sign 24, 

26, 27, 28, 33, 34, 35 

Nahuas, migration of 112 

Nauauatzin, " poor leper " 66 



Page. 
Necklaces, collars, and ear orna- 
ments, Maya 613-617 

Nemontemi, counting of 136 

last five days of Mexican 

year 16, 17, 18 

variations in 23-24 

New Year, Maya 22-23 

Mexican, Clavigero on 23 

Cristobal del Castillo on 23, 25, 26 

Durtln on 23,2.5,26 

February 2 22 

in Vatican Codex A 23 

NezaualcoyotI, conflicts regarding 

portrait of 66 

drum of 66 

Notation in Mexican picture 

writings— 192,202-203,208 
Numbers, large, in Maya manu- 
scripts 398- 

402, 412-414, 420-421 
series of, in Maya manu- 
scripts 410-411,418-419 

Numerals, encircled, in Maya man- 
uscripts __ 411-412, 419-420 
in serpents, in Maya manu- 
scripts ___ 414-417,421-422 

Nuiiez de la Vega, on god Votan 294-295 

at Chiapas 45 

on Maya day gods 559 

on Tzental-Zotzil demon 43, 44 

Nuttall, Zelia, attempt by, to ex- 
plain away Bilimec pic- 
ture 71-72 

on Aztec tonalamatl 532 

on Mexican calendar 138-139 

on Mexican feather ornament 

at Vienna 59, 60, 73-74 

on Mexican year 446-447, 456 

on standard of feather orna- 
ment- 66, 67 

on tortoise in Vienna manu- 
script 427 

Nuundecu. See Achiotlan. 
Oaxaca, feather ornaments of clay 

figures at 174 

human sacrifice in 277-278 

origin of 260 

OcelotI, Mexican day sign 47 

Ochpaniztii, festival of Mexican 

earth goddess 130, 131 

human sacrifice at 174 

Mexican broom festival 23 

Ocna, Maya feast of the New 

Year 22 

Olin, seventeenth Mexican day 

sign 133 

Olvera, Manuel de — 

receipt for cooking done for — 214- 

215,216 
receipt for provisions given to_ 199 

Ometecutii OmeciuatI, Mexican 

creation deities 286 

Ornament, wheel-shaped, in Coz- 

catzin Codex 74 



678 



INDEX 



Page. 
Orozco y Berra, M., Father Burgoa 

quoted by 19 

on acompafiados 18 

on agreement between Mexi- 
can and European 

chronologies 139-140 

on beginning of time cycle 25 

Pineda quoted by 23 

Osuna, Duke of, Pintura del 
Gobernador, Alcaldes 
y Regidores de Mex- 
ico preserved by 188, 190 

Ozomatli, Mexican day sign 25 

Painting among Mexican warriors. 180 

Palenque, architecture of 81 

Chols near 81 

Cross of, dates on 426, 436 

inscription on, investi- 
gated 548-555 

paper on, by E. 

Porstemann 545-555 

prosperity of 82 

Temple of Cross at 583 

Temple of Cross No. 2 at 583 

Temple of inscriptions at, 
paper on, by E. 

Forstemann 573-580 

Temple of Sun at 583 

three inscriptions of, paper 
on, by E. Forste- 
mann 581-589 

Panquetzaliztli, festival of Mexi- 
can god of war Uit- 

zilopochtli 131 

Panquip, lance points and pottery 
from, in Royal Mu- 
seum 107 

Parker, Miss A. M., assistant in 

translations 10 

Patecatl, Mexican pulque god 49 

Pax, Maya month, war dance in 40 

Peabody Museum in Boston, exca- 
vations near Copan 
under direction of__ 78 

Penafiel on glyph of King Nezaual- 

pilli 157 

on mural paintings at Mitla_ 256 

Perez, Pio, on length of Katun 330 

on Maya calendar 427 

Peten, clay vessel from, in Museum 

at Copenhagen 83 

island city of Lagoon of Itza_ 78 

Philadelphia University Museum, 

vessel in 111 

Picture manuscript, Maya 25 

Picture writings, Mexican, col- 
lected by H u m - 
boldt, ■ chronology 

of 228 

fragment I 128-154 

entries in 143-154 

fragment II 127, 128, 154-176 

meaning of 155 

fragments III and IV 176-187 

fragment V 187-190 

fragment VI___ 128, 190-190 



Picture writings, Mexican, col- 
lected by H u m - 
boldt, fragment VII_ 196-200 

fragment VIII 200-209 

meaning of 202 

fragments IX, X, XI, 

XII 209-212 

fragment XIII 212-217 

fragment XIV 217-220 

fragment XV 221 

fragment XVI 221-228 

paper on, by Eduard 

Seler 123-229 

presented to the 
Royal Library at 

Berlin 127 

Pije-Tao, Zapotec deity 284, 285, 286 

Pi.ie-Xdo, Zapotec deity 284, 285, 286 

Pineda, cited on Zotzil New Year_ 28 

Pinopiaa, goddess of Xalapa 301 

Pipes, pottery figure, in Sarg col- 
lection 101-103 

in Strebel collection 101 

Pipils, region settled by 112 

Pitao, Zapotec name of signs of 
four tonalamati di- 
visions 267 

Pitao-Cozobi, Zapotec god of har- 
vests 300 

Pixana, Zapotec ceremony 278-280 

Pleiades among the Mayas, paper 

on, by E. Forstemann 521-524 
Poinsett, J. R., collection of Mexi- 
can manuscripts of_ 200, 212 
Pomar, .Tuan Bautista de, on Neza- 
ualcoyotl's palace at 

Tezcuco 191 

Popol Vuh, Quiches and Toltecs in_ 234 

Zotzil traditions in 233 

Pottery, Guatemalan 91,95-97 

heads from Saculeu 110 

Powell, J. W., publication of pa- 
pers on native Amer- 
ican writing ar- 
ranged for by 9 

Preuss, Doctor, on " eye of light " 
at Santa Lucia Coz- 

umalhuapa 668-669 

Priest pupils among Mexicans and 

Zapotecs 277 

Priesthood and ceremonials, Za- 
potec 275-283 

Priests, Maya, costume of 602 

Zapotec, ordinary 276-277 

Pulque, Mexican drink 210 

Quaubtemoc, king of Mexico 158-160 

glyph of 158. 160 

Quauhtemoctzin, date of capture 

of, Chimalpahin on_ 139 

Cortes on 139 

Gomara on 139 

Sahagun on 139 

Quauhtii, Mexican day sign 48 

Quauitleua, feast of the rain god 
and Mexican New 
Year 22,23 



INDEX 



679 



Page. 



90* 
3-90 



286 



112, 668 
97-99 



275 



Qu'ekclii region, centi-fil, pottery 
from, in Royal Mu- 
seum 

eastern provinces of 

Quetzalcouatl as synonym of Pije- 

Tao, Pije-Xoo 

death of 359-360, 364-365 

Mexican name of high priests- 275-276 

priest god of Toltecs 276 

wind god 40, 

48, 118, 133-134 

ornaments of 60 

Quiches Identified with Toltecs in 

Popul Vuh 234 

Quiecolani, harvest ceremony at — 300-301 

Quiri'gua, architecture at 81 

prosperity of 8- 

Rain god, dwarfs of 268 

four water casks of 267-268 

in Borgian Codex 269-270 

Ramirez de Quinones, P., expedi- 
tion of 80 

Rau, Charles, cited 547-548 

Rebellions, Maya 625-626, 627 

Receipt from village of Mizqul- 

yauallan 214-215 

Reliefs at Copan, bat in 239 

from Chiapas in Museo Na 
clonal de Mexico - 

in Sarg collection 

Religion, Zapotec, similar to that 
of Mexicans and 

Mayas 

Rings, red, numerals inclosed in, 
in Maya manu- 
scripts 397 

Rockstroh, Prof., on Cahabon 

Rodriguez, Francisco, on pyramid 

of Tepoxtlan 343-344 

Rosetta stone 9 

Rosny, Leon de. on cardinal 

points 29,31,501 

family of Mexico, extinc- 
tion of 160-162, 165-168 

Library at Berlin, frag- 
ments of Mexican 
picture writing pre- 
sented by Humboldt 

to 127 

Royal Museum at Berlin, glazed 
vessels from Karwin- 
ski and Uhle collec- 
tions in 107-108 

Guatemalan antiquities from 

Vera Paz region in_ 77 

hand rollers in 

lance"" points and pottery from 

Panquip in 

ornamented Guatemalan ves- 
sels in 107-108 

vessel from Ecuadorian ex- 
hibit at Columbian 

Exposition in 

Sacrifices, among Chols and La 

candons 

animal, among ZapOtecs 



-398 
88 



Royal 

Royal 



78, 83 
91 



lO-i 



83 



83 
277 



Page. 
Sacrifices, human, among Mayas — 644, 

649, 654 

among Zapotecs 270, 277-278 

in Mexico-- 174, 278. :!67-369. 370 
Sahagun, B., de. on l)eginning of 

Mexican year 22 

on Cipactli 39 

on date of Cortes"s entrance 

into Mexico 1-t*^ 

on intercalary days 18-19 

on last five days of Mexican 

year 1G> 17 

on Mexican astronomy 355-350, 

357, 358 
on Mexican feather orna- 
ments 71, 74 

on ornaments of Quetzal- 
couatl 60 

on Quetzalcouatl 316-317 

on tlaca-xolotl !^4 

on war dress 61 

shield in manuscript of 64 

Saint Katharine of Siena, con- 
fused with goddess 

Pinopiaa 301 

Salama, tradition regarding 112 

Salinas de los Nueve Cerros, 
pottery, etc., from 

mound at 86 

ruins of ^6 

San Cristobal de Chiapas, Zotzil 

settled near 233 

San Francisco Teuetzquititzin. 
Diego de, head and 

glyph of 168,173 

Santa Lucia Cozumalhuapa, mon- 
uments of 112 

relief slab of, deity on_- 312, 668-669 
sculpture from, in Royal Mu- 
seum Q'l 

Santa Maria Nanacacipactzin, 
Luis de, death, in 

1565, of 160 

Sapper, Karl, contribution to Cen- 
tral American arche- 
ology by 537-538 

example of 121 

excavations by, at La Cueva- 103 

at Panquip 107 

in Alta Vera Paz 78 

on caves in eastern Qu'eckchi 

region 88-90 

on Choi language in Cahabon- 88 

on Chols and Chorti 81 

on Guatemalan millstones 90-91 

on Lacandons 80, 82, 83 

on ruins in Chixoy valley 86 

Sarg, F. C, Guatemalan antiqui- 
ties collected by 77 

Saville, M. H., Maya bibliography 

by r,37 

report on pyramid of Te- 
poxtlan by 343-344 

ScarabKUS, Egyptian, in collection 
of Sociedad Econfim- 
ica 77 



680 



INDEX 



Page. 
Schelllias, Paul, on Dieseldorff's 
paper on pottery vase 

from Cbama 645 

on glyph of month Kayab 423 

on glyph of snail 429 

on glyphs for cardinal points- 31 

on Maya day gods 560 

on Maya glyph of Caban 565 

studies of Maya glyphs by 502-503 

Schultz-Sellack, on cardinal points 27, 

29, 31, 32 
Segura de la Frontera. See Ante- 

quera. 
Seler, Ediiard, contribution to 
Central American 

archeology by 538 

contribution to Maya studies 

of 596 

on beginning of years in Dres- 
den codex 477 

on Maya day gods 559 

on relation of sea snail to 

deities of death 428 

Serpent as Maya year symbol 477-478 

Shield in Sahagun manuscript 64 

Shoe vessel, from Quiche territory 110 

in Sarg collection 91 

Sickness, eruptive, epidemic of 334 

Siguenza y Gongora, Carlos, fate 

of papers of 20 

on intercalary days 22, 667 

Skin, human, drawing of 173 

Snail, tortoise and, in Maya litera- 
ture 42.3-430 

Sociedad Economica, Guatemalan 
antiquities belonging 

to 77 

Soldiers, Maya and Mexican, de- 
scription of 650-057 

Solstice, summer, assigned by 

Mayas to tortoise 423-427 

winter, assigned by Mayas to 

snail 423,427 

Spaniards, appearance of, in Yuca- 
tan, date of 333-334 

Mexican glyphs of 195 

Standard for feather ornament 66-67 

Star, morning, divinity of ■- 360-363, 

366, 382 

worship of, in Mexico 358-360 

symbols, Maya 504 

Stars, worship of, in Mexico 358 

Stephens, .T. L., cited 547 

on tortoise on monument at 

Copan 427 

Stoll, Otto, on Indian burial 
mounds in Guate- 
mala 77 

on Lacandons 80 

on Nahuatls in Central Amer- 
ica 662 

on Salama 112 

on uniformity of religious 

ideas 275 

Stones, precious, among the Mexi- 
cans 150 



Page. 
Strange, Chan Santa Cruz visited 

by 633 

Strebel, glazed fragments found at 

Zoncuautla by 109 

on varnished vessel of .Talna_ 117 

vessel from region of Atoto- 
nilco and Quimistlan 

in collection of 109 

Stuttgart Museum, Mexican shields 

in 182-183 

Sun, eclipse of, Zapotec ideas re- 
garding 300 

god, Kinich Ahau, heads of 99-101 

worship in Mexico and Cen- 
tral America 295-296 

of Lacandons 82 

T.abaseo, as commercial center 110 

female deity worshiped in 81 

traffic with Acalan 78 

Tablets, red pottery, in Sapper 
and DieseldorfE col- 
lections 101 

Tahitza 79 

Tattooing in Maya inscriptions 600-601 

Tecpatl, Mexican year sign 24, 

25, 26, 27, 33, 52 

Tehuantepec, idol near 293 

intercalary days in year of 19 

oracle near 293 

Tenanco, chieftain of, in fragment 
I of Humboldt col- 
lection 145 

Tenochca, Tlatelolca conquered 

by' 61 

Tenochtitlan, war with Tlatelolco- 61 

Teotihuacan, pyramids of sun and 

moon at 296 

Teotitlan del Camino, worship of 

Xipe at 296-297 

Teotitlan del Valle, buildings at__ 298-300 

idol and oracle at 296-298 

Teotleco, twelfth feast of Mexican 

year 59 

Tepeolotlec, Zapotec god 291-294, 668 

Tepoxtecatl, god worshiped at 

Tepoxtlan 349-352 

glyph of 350 

images of 350-352 

Tepoxtlan, history of 342-343 

location of 341-342.669 

temple pyramid of, date of 347 

deity worshiped at 347-352 

description of 344-347, 069 

paper on, by Eduard 

Seler 339-352 

Teteo innan, Mexican earth god- 
dess 130 

Tezcatlipoca, feather basket worn 

by 67 

forms of 68-69 

god of the Chalcas 59. 670 

Mexican god who eradicates 

sin 281 

Tezcuco. palace at 190-191 

plan of 190-192, 196 

population of 192 



INDEX 



681 



Page. 
Tezontepec, places of that name in 

Mexico 188 

Tezozomoc, Cronica Mexicana of, 
Mexican astron- 
omy in_- 355, 356, 357, 358 
Moteciilizoma's armor in_ 69 

war dress in 61, 62 

Tliomas, Cyrus, acltnowledgment to 10 

cited 29. 266, 411, 418, 

496. 497, 501, 527, 548, 596 
signs of cardinal points inter- 
preted by •''01 

Time, computation of. in Mexico — 15 

Time periods of the Mayas, paper 
on by E. Forste- 

mann 491-498 

Time unit of 20 days, Mexican 13 

dedication of 16 

Tititl, Mexican feast 23 

Tizoc, Tizocic, glyphic representa- 
tion of 156 

Tlacauepan, brother of Motecuh- 

zoma the younger 62 

Tlacaxipeualiztli, Mexican feast — 23, 132 

Tlacotzin, glyphs of 164-165 

Tlaelquani, Mexican earth god- 
dess as eradicator of 

sin 281 

Tlaloc, Mexican rain, thunder, and 

mountain god— 22, 129, 669 
Tlaltelolco, conference to decide 

beginning of year at_ 22 

conquered by Tenochca 61 

Moquiuix, king of 60 

war with Tenochtitlan 61 

Tlauitol family in Tezcuco 194-195 

Tlauitoltzin, San Antonio Pimen- 

tel, Chimalpahin on_ 194 

Pomar on 194-195 

Sahagun on 194 

Torquemada on 104 

Tlauizcalpan Tecutli, as synonym 
of Coqui-Xee. Coqui- 

Cilla 286,669 

Tlaxcala, clay vessel found near_ 64 

Tochtli, Mexican year sign 24, 

25, 26, 27, 33, 44 

Toci, Mexican earth goddess 120, 131 

ToUan, legend cycle of 60 

Toltecs, antiquity of 327 

explanation of •"•42 

identified with Quiches in 

Popul Vuh 234 

Tonacaciuatl, Mexican creation 

goddess 286 

Tonacatecutli, Mexican creation 

god 286 

Tonalamatl, as horoscope 532 

Central American, paper on, 

by E. Forstemann — 525-533 

Maya name of 14 

Maya, divisions of 527 

origin of 494 

Mexican time period 14, 134 

referred by Zapotecs to car- 
dinal points 267 



Page. 
Tonalamatl, represented in Auhin- 

Goupil collection 64 

Tonantzin, Maya goddess 48, 50, 51 

Torquemada, Juan de, o'n inter- 
calary days 19 

on temples at Mitla 249 

Tortoise and snail in Maya liter- 
ature 423-430 

in Codex Cortesianus 423-426 

in Troano Codex 426 

Trade, pottery distributed by 107-109 

Trading expeditions, Mexican, into 

Zapotec country 258-259 

Treaty with Mayas in 1853 626 

Trocadero Museum, vessels from 

Tabasco in 90 

Tzimin-Chac, Itzaex idol, god of 
tliunder and light- 
ning 45 

Tzinacantan. Guatemala 233 

Uaxtec cap 67, 71 

Uaxtepec, " Jardin d'acclimation " 

of Mexican kings 171 

Uaxyacac, settled by Mexicans un- 
der elder Motecuh- 

zoma 261 

Uexotzinco, enterprise against 62 

Ueza-eche, Zapotec name of ordi- 
nary priests 276 

Uhde, collection of. Royal Mu- 
seum of Ethnology- 64 
Mrs Nuttall's views defended 

by 60 

on Mexican feather orna- 
ment 71,72 

on standard of feather orna- 
ment 66 

Uija-tao. Zapotec high priest 248, 275 

Uitzilopochtli, Mexican god of 

war 131 

Mexican tribal god, head- 
dress of 59 

shield of 181-182 

Uixachtepec, periodic fire on 20 

Usumacinta, sacrificial vessels of 

the 77,83 

Utensils in Maya inscriptions 620 

Uuayayab, Maya demon of evil 17 

Valentini, P. .T. .L, cited .59,540,548 

Vampire god, Maya 665-666 

Vase, pottery, with figure paint- 
ing, from a grave in 
Chama, paper on, by 

E. P. DieseldorfE 639-645 

Vase of Chama, paper on. by E. 

Forstemann 647-650 

paper on, by Eduard Seler 651-664 

resemblance of, to Dresden 

Codex, page 60 647 

Venus, planet, glyph of 371-373 

human sacrifices to 370 

light of 383-386 

Mexican observations of_ 363-367, 

375-384 

revolution of, length of-_ 496 

worship of, in Mexico 358 



682 



INDEX 



Page. 
Venus period, analogies between 
Maya and Mexican 
manuscripts regard- 
ing 376-382 

assignment of, to five cardinal 

points 367 

compared with solar year 389-391 

initial days of, table of 374 

paper on, by Eduard Seler 353-391 

relation of, to tonalamatl_ 365-367, 386 
Vessel with vampire-headed deity, 

DieseldorfE on 665-666 

Vessels, glazed 107, 110 

Guatemalan, at American His- 
torical Exhibition __ 77 
juglike, in Sapper collection.. 92 

of the Maya type 77 

representing toad and monkey, 

in Sarg collection 108 

sacrificial 83-85 

gketcnes of, from Castaiieda 

collection 11.3-121 

toothed, obtained by Sarg in 

Nebah 110 

Vienna, Mexican feather orna- 
ment in museum at- 59 
Villagutierre y Sotomayor on Que- 

hache (Mazatlan) __ 79-80 

Votan, Chiapanec year sign 24 

Mexican god 45 

Tzental god ___; 294-295 

Vues des Coi-dilleres, by Hum- 
boldt, fragments II 
and VI of Mexican 

picture writings in__ 127-128 

Wall paintings at Mitla 256-257 

explanation of 306-324 

importance of 324 

paper on, by Eduard 

Seler 243-324 

Wesselhoeft, Selma, papers trans- 
lated by 10 

V/hip, use of, in Central America_ 657 
Wilken, Friedrich, on Mexican pic- 
ture writing in Hum- 
boldt collection 127 

Worship of Acalans, Lacandons, 

and Chols 82-83 

Xahlla, Zotzil traditions in 233 

Xipe, red god, Mexican 132,669,970 

of the Yopi, dress of- 61, 62, 63, 67 

forms of 68-69 

shield of 63-64.66,67 

Xiuhtecutli, Mexican fire god 18 

Xochitl, Mexican day sign 35, 36, 54 

Xochiquetzal, goddess 50 

Xolotl, Mexican and Zapotec god_ 46 
65-66, 74, 94-95, 118 



Page. 
Year, Maya, assigned to cardinal 

points 27 

beginning of 446 

last five days of 17 

length of 402 

symbols of 477-489 

Mexican, assigned to cardinal 

points 24 

beginning of, variations 

in 21-24,26 

first month of 139-140 

initial day of 14, 25 

intercalary days in 18-21 

last five days of 15-18 

length of 14, 15 

named from initial days- 15 

names of 136-139 

table illustrating 137 

ritual, Maya 447 

Year signs, Chiapanec 24 

in Yucatan . 24 

Mexican 24 

Years, order of 33 

period of 24, Maya computa- 
tion of 476 

Yokes, stone, in Royal Museum 
from Seebach collec- 
tion 111 

Yucatan, belief regarding the 

Balam in 52 

frontier tracts near, charac- 
teristics of 78-79 

independent Indian states of, 

geography of 633-634 

paper on, by Karl Sapper- 623-634 

last five days of year in 16-17 

Zaeatlan, chieftain of, in fragment 
I of Humboldt col- 
lection 145 

Zapotec country, ancient 258-265 

authority of Mexicans in- 260 

estate of Cortes in 265 

isolation of 258 

Mexican conquests in 261-264 

settlement of Mexicans 

in 259 

Zapotecs, deities and religious 

conceptions of 284-305 

relation of, to Mexicans and 

Mayas 266 

submission of. to Cortes 264-265 

Zero point, among Cakchikels 35 

among Mayas 35 

days reckoned by Mayas from_ 35 

Zotz, Maya for bat 233 

name of Maya time period 237 

Zotzihia, "bat's house" 234 

Zotzil, tribes so named 233 



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Ot'^/c^ 



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